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EURIPIDES’ 


ALCESTIS AND ELECTRA 


LITERALLY TRANSLATED WITH CRITICAL AND 
EXPLANATORY NOTES 


BY 


THEODORE ALOIS BUCKLEY, B.A. 


WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 


EDWARD BROOKS, JR. 


PHILADELPHIA 


DAVID McKAY, PusiisHER 
1022 Marxet STREET 





Copyright, 1900, by Dayiy MoKay. 


INTRODUCTION. 


Euripides, the author of Alcestis and Electra, 
translations of which will be found in the follow- 
ing pages, was one of the three greatest writers of 
Greek tragedy. Though by many considered to be 
inferior to Alschylus and Sophocles he neverthe- 
less was a writer of great prominence and the 
winner of several tragic prize contests. 

Not a great deal is known of his parentage and 
early life. Hewas born in the year 480 B. C.,on 
the very day that the battle of Salamis took place. 
His father was Mnesarchus, a man of some promi- 
nence and considerable wealth, while his mother — 
was named Clito and was one of the Athenian 
women who had been sent away to Salamis when 
the Athenians abandoned Attica and took refuge 
in their ships. 

Among his early instructors were Anaxagoras, 
Prodicus and Protagoras, and they probably took 
great pride in their pupil, for he wasa hard stu- 
dent and a brilliant scholar. Euripides is a splen- 
did example to be pointed to by those who advo- 
cate the promotion of athletics at institutions for 

° 5 


2056197 


6 INTRODUCTION. 


the education of young men, for he was an excel- 
lent athlete and twice won the prize in the gym- 
nastic contests of his day. At the early age of 
twenty-five he succeeded in winning third prize in 
one of the great tragic competitions. 

He had a strong political enemy in Aristophanes, 
and, partly on this account and partly because of 
domestic unhappiness, he is said to have left Athens 
and taken up his abode with King Archelaus in 
Macedonia. 

A tragic story of his death is to the effect that 
he was torn to pieces by dogs, but itis probable 
that this is only a story and that he ended his days 
in a natural way. 

By many Euripides is thought not to bea true 
tragedian, inasmuch as his compositions contain 
much that suggests rather the melodrama. It is 
urged that his plays might have a happy ending 
equally as well asa tragic one, and that the element 
of tragedy is usually introduced by some unex- 
pected catastrophe which seems to be out of place. 
However this may be, the Alcestis at any rate, can 
hardly be called a true tragedy, inasmuch as it has 
a happy ending. 

The story of this play is an interesting one and 
portrays wifely love and devotion in its most at- 
tractive form—a rather singular circumstance, 
when it is remembered that both of the author’s 
wives had been far from models in this respect. 

Admetus, who has about reached the end of his 


INTRODUCTION. 7 


life, is greatly beloved by Apollo. The latter per- 
suades the Fates to accept a substitute for Adme- 
tus. The Fates agree but the substitute is not easy 
to find. Finally Alcestis offers to die in place of 
her husband, both of whose parents have been un- 
willing to make this sacrifice for their son. The 
play opens with Death appearing to carry off Al- 
cestis as his prize and the chorus give themselves 
up to great lamentations and shed many tears. 
Exactly why Admetus consents to this sacrifice 
does not appear. It may be that he can’t help 
himself. At any rate Alcestis dies after receiving 
from her husband the promise that he will not 
marry again. Not long after her death Hercules 
arrives upon the scene and learns of what has 
taken place. He then determines to rescue Alces- 
tis from the arms of Death, and having done so 
brings her to her husband covered with a mantle. 
He represents her to be a prize he has won in a 
wrestling match, and begs of Admetus that he 
will keep her in his palace until he shall have re- 
turned from an adventure he is about to under- 
take. Admetus refuses, because she reminds him 
of his wifeand thus makes his grief the more diffi- 
cult to bear. Finally he discovers that she is Al- 
cestis and Admetus is overjoyed at his good for- 
tune, and thus this ‘‘ Tragedy ” has a happy termi- 
nation. 

In the ‘‘Electra”’ Euripides has chosen the same 
theme as Sophocles in his tragedy of the same 


8 INTRODUCTION. 


name, namely, the return of Orestes from exile and 
his revenge upon the guilty pair, Clytemnestra and 
Atgisthus. The development is somewhat different, 
however, and by some thought to be less interest- 
ing and somewhat inartistic. : 


ALCESTIS. 


PERSONS REPRESENTED. 


APOLLO. ADMETUS. 
DEATH. EUMELUS., 
CHORUS OF PHERGANS. HERCULES, 
ATTENDANTS, PHERES, 
ALCESTIS. 


THE ARGUMENT. 


Apo.to desired of the Fates that Admetus, who was about to die, 
might give a substitute to die for him, that so he might live for 
a term equal to his former life; and Alcestis, his wife, gave her- 
self up, while neither of his parents were willing to die instead of 
their son. But not long after the time when this calamity hap- 
pened, Hercules having arrived,and having learned from a serv- 
ant what had befallen Alcestis, went to her tomb, and havin: 
made Death retire, covers the lady with a robe; and requeste 
Admetus toreceive her and keep her for him; and said he had 
borne her off as a prize in wrestling ; but when he would not, he 
unveiled her, and discovered her whom he was lamenting. 





APOLLO. 


O MANSIONS of Admetus, wherein I endured to ac- 
quiesce in the slave’s table,1 though a God; for Jove 
was the cause, by slaying my son Aisculapius, hurling 
the lightning against his breast: whereat enraged, I 
slay the Cyclops, forgers of Jove’s fire ; and me my 
father compelled to serve for hire with a mortal, as a 
punishment for these things. But having come to this 


1 Lactant. i. 10 ‘‘ Quid Apollo? Nonne.... turpissime gregem 
pavit alienum?” B. 
9 a 


10 ALCESTIS. ~ [8—37. 


land, I tended the herds of him who received me, and 
have preserved this house until this day: for being 
pious | met with a pious man,? the son of Pheres, whom 
I delivered from dying by deluding the Fates: but 
those Goddesses granted me that Admetus should es- 
cape the impending death, could he furnish in his 
place another dead for the powers below. But having 
tried and gone through ali his friends, his father and 
his aged mother who bore him, he found not, save his 
wife, one who was willing to die for him, and view no 
more the light : who now within the house is borne in 
their hands, breathing her last ; for on this day is it 
destined for her to die, and to depart from life. But I, 
lest the pollution ? come upon me in the house, leave 
this palace’s most dear abode. But already I behold 
Death near, priest of the dead, who is about to bear her 
down to the mansions of Pluto ; but he comes at the 
right time, observing this day, in the which it was des- 
tined for her to die. 


DEATH,* APOLLO. 


Dea. Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! What dost thouat the pal- 
ace? why tarriest here, Phoebus? Art thou again at 
thy deeds of injustice, taking away and putting an end 
to the honors of the powers beneath? Did it not suffice 
thee to stay the death of Admetus, when thou didst 
delude the Fates by fraudful artifice?5 But now too 
dost thou keep guard for her, having armed thine 
hand with thy bow, who then promised, in order to 
redeem her husband, herself, the daughter of Pelias, 
to die for him ? 

Ap. Fear not, I cleave to justice and honest argu- 
ments. 


2 are Fab. li. “* Apollo ab eo in servitutem liberaliter accep- 
tus.”’ A 
8 Cf. Hippol. 1437. B. : : 

4 No one will, I believe, object to this translation of @ANATOS ; 
it seems rather a matter of surprise that Potter has kept the Latin 
Orcvs, a name clearly substituted as the nearest to @ANATOS of 
the masculine gender. 

5 Cf. Asch. Eum, 723 sqq. B. 


38—61.] ALCESTIS. II 


Dea. What business then has your bow, if youcleave 
to justice ? 
Ap. It is my habit ever to bear it. 
: Dea. Yes, and without regard to justice to aid this 
ouse. 
Ap, Ay, for I am afflicted at the misfortunes of a 
man that is dear to me. 
Dea. And wilt thou deprive me of this second dead ? 
Ap. But neither took I him from thee by force. 
Dea. How then is he upon earth, and not beneath 
the ground ? 
Ap. Because he gave in his stead his wife, after 
whom thou art now come. 
DEA. Yes, and will bear her off to the land beneath. 
Ap. Take her away, for I know not whether I can 
persuade thee. 
Drea. What? to slay him, whom I ought? for this 
was I commanded. 
Ap. No: but to cast death upon those about to die. 
Dea. Yes, I perceive thy speech, and what thou 
aim’st at. : 
Is it possible then for Alcestis to arrive at old 
age 
Dea. It is not: consider that I too am delighted with 
my due honors. 
wee Thou canst not, however, take more than one 
ife. 
Dea. When the young die I earn the greater glory. 
Ap. And if she die old, she will be sumptuously en- 
tombed.® 
DEA. Thou layest down the law, Phoebus, in favor of 
the rich. 5 
Ap. How sayest thou? what? hast thou been clever 
- without my perceiving it ? 
Rhea Those who have means would purchase. to die 
old. 
Ap. Doth it not then seem good to thee to grant me 
this favor ? 
DEA. No in truth ; and thou knowest my ways. 


8 It was customary to bury those, who died advanced in years, 
with greater magnificence than young persons. 


I2 ALCESTIS. [62—90. 


‘Sore Yes, hostile to mortals, and detested by the 
ods. 

Dea. Thou canst not have all things, which thou 
oughtest not. 

Ap. Nevertheless, thou wilt stop, though thou art 
over-fierce ; such a man will come to the house of Pheres, 
whom Eurystheus hath sent after the chariot and its 
horses,’ to bring them from the wintry regions of 
Thrace, who in sooth, being welcomed in the mansions 
of Admetus, shall take away by force this woman from 
thee ; and there will be no obligation to thee at my 
hands, but still thou wilt do this, and wilt be hated by 


me. 

DeEA. Much though thou talkest, thou wilt gain noth- 
ing. This woman then shall descend to the house of 
Pluto ; and I am advancing upon her, that I may be- 
gin therites on her with my sword; for sacred is he 
to the Gods beneath the earth, the hair of whose head 
this sword hath consecrated.® 


CHORUS. 


SremicH. Wherefore in heaven’s name is this stillness 
before the palace ? why is the house of Admetus hushed 
in silence ? 

SEmIcH. But there is not even one of our friends 
near, who can tell us whether we have to deplore the de- 
parted queen, or whether Alcestis, daughter of Pelias, 
yet living views this light, who has appeared to me and 
to all to have been the best wife toward her husband. 

Cuor. Hears any one either a wailing, or the beat- 
ing of hands within the house, or a lamentation, as 
though the thing had taken place?® There is not how- 
ever any one of the servants standing before the gates. 
Oh would that thou wouldst appear, O Apollo, amidst 
the waves of this calamity ! 


7 The horses of Diomed, king of Thrace. The construction is, 
EvpvaGéws méupavros [avrov] mera immecov bxnua [agovta] éx Térwv 
dvcxenépwv Opyxyns. MonK. 

§ On this custom, see Monk, and Lomeier de Lustrationibus, 
§ xxviii. B. 

* Perhaps , ‘“‘as though all were over.”’ B. 


91—136.] ALCESTIS. 13 


3 ergs They would not however be silent, were she 

ead. 

‘i SeMICH. For the corse is certainly not gone from the 
ouse. 

SEMICH. Whence this conjecture? I do not presume 
this. What is it gives you confidence ? 

SEMIcH. How could Admetus have made a private 
funeral of his so excellent wife? 

Cuor. But before the gates I see not the bath of 
water from the fountain,” as is the custom at the gates 
of the dead : and in the vestibule is no shorn hair, which 
is wont to fall in grief for the dead; the youthful 4 
hand of women for the youthful wife sound not. 

SEMICH. And yet this is the appointed day,— 

SemicH. What is this thou sayest ? 

SemicH. Inthe which she must go beneath the earth. 

SEmMIcH. Thou hast touched my soul, hast touched 
my heart. 

SEMICH. When the good are afflicted, he must mourn, 
who from the beginning has been accounted good. 

CHorR. But there is not whither in the earth any one 
having sent naval equipment, or to Lycia, or to the 
thirsty site of Hammon’s temple, can redeem the un- 
happy woman’s life, for abrupt fate approaches, and I 
know not to whom of those that sacrifice at the hearths 
of the Gods I can go. But only if the son of Phoebus 
were viewing with his eyes this light, could she come, 
having left the darksome habitations and the gates of 
Pluto; for he raised up the dead, before that the stroke 
of the lightning’s fire hurled by Jove destroyed him. 
But now what hope of life can I any longer entertain? 
For all things have already been done by the king, and 
at the altars of all the Gods abound the victims drop- 
ping with blood, and no cure is there of these evils. 


10 Casaubon on Theophr. § 16, observes that it was customary to 
ee a large vessel filled with lustral water before the doors of a 
ouse during the time the corpse was lying out, with which every 
one who came out sprinkled himself. also Monk’s note, Kirch- 
mann de Funeribus, iii. 9. The same custom was observed on re- 
turning from the funeral. See Pollux, viii.7. p. 391, ed. Seber. B. 
11 See Dindorf. B. 


2 


14 ALCESTIS. [137—156. 
CHORUS, FEMALE ATTENDANT. 


CuHor. But here comes one of the female attendants 
from the house, in tears; what shallI hear has hap- 
pened? To mourn indeed, if any thing happens to our 
lords, is pardonable: but whether the lady be still alive, 
or whether she be dead, we would wish to know. 

ATT. You may call her both alive and dead. 

Cuor. And how can the same woman be both alive 
and dead ? : 

Att. Already she is on the verge of death, and 
breathing her life away. : 

CHor. Oh wretched man, being what thyself of what 
a wife art thou bereft ! F 

Att. My master knows not this yet, until he suffer. 

Cuor. Is there no longer hope that she may save her 
life ? 

Att. No, for the destined day makes its attack upon 
her. 

CHor. Are not then suitable preparations made for 
these events ? ; 

ATT. Yes, the adornments! are ready, wherewith 
her husband will bury her. 

Cuor. Let her know then that she will die glorious, 
and by far the best of women under the sun. 

Att. And how not the best? who will contest it? 
What must the woman be, who has surpassed her? 
and how can any give greater proof of esteeming her 
husband, than by being willing to die for him? And 

2 Potterus, Arch. Gr. mortuos a Grecis mpovwrets vocari tradit, 
quod solebant ex penitiore edium parte produci, acin vestibulo, 
i. e. tpovwmi collocari: atque hunc locum adducit, sed frustra, ut 
opinor. Non enim mortua jam erat, nec producta, sed, ut recte 
hance vocem interpretatur schol. eis @avatov mpovevevevia, i. e. morti 
propinqua. Proprie rpovwris is dicitur, qui corpore prono ad ter- 
ram fertur ut, Aéschyl. Agam. 242. Inde, quia moribundi virium 
defectu terram petere solent, ad hos designandos translatum est. 
KUINOEL. 

18 The old word ‘‘dizening’’ is perhaps the most literal transla- 
tion of coouos, which, however, here means the whole preparations 
for the funeral. Something like it is implied in Hamlet, v. 1. 

. her virgin rites, 


Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home 
Of bell and burial. 


157—196.] ALCESTIS. : 15 


these things indeed the whole city knoweth. But what 
she did in the house you will marvel when you hear. 
For, when she perceived that the destined day was 
come, she washed her fair skin with water from the 
river; and having taken from her closets of cedar ves- 
ture and ornaments, she attired herself becomingly ; 
and standing before the altar she prayed: ‘‘ O mistress, 
since I go beneath the earth, adoring thee for the last 
time, I will beseech thee to protect my orphan children, 
and to the one join a loving wife, and to the other a 
noble husband: nor, as their mother perishes, let my 
children untimely die, but happy in their paternal 
country let them complete a joyous life.” But all 
the altars, which are in the house of Admetus, she went 
to, and crowned, and prayed, tearing the leaves from 
off the myrtle boughs, tearless, without a groan, nor 
did the approaching evil change the natural beauty of 
her skin. And then rushing to her chamber, and her 
bed, there indeed she wept and spoke thus: ‘‘O bridal 
bed, whereon I loosed my virgin zone with this man, 
for whom I die, farewell! for I hate thee not; but me 
alone hast thou lost ; for dreading to betray thee, and 
my husband, I die; but thee some other woman will 
possess, more chaste there cannot, but perchance more 
~ fortunate.” #4 And falling on it she kissed it; but 
all the bed was bathed with the flood that issued from 
her eyes. But when she had satiety of much weeping, 
she goes hastily forward, rushing from the bed. And 
ofttimes having left her chamber, she oft returned, 
and threw herself upon the bed again. And her chil- 
dren, hanging to the garments of their mother, wept ; 
but she, taking them in her arms, embraced them, 
first one and then the other, as about to die. But all 
the domestics wept throughout the house, bewailing 
their mistress, but she stretched out her right hand to 
each, and there was none so mean, whom she addressed 








14 Aristophanes is almost too bad in his burlesque, Equit. 1251. oé 
& addos tts AdBwv KextTHTETaAL, KAeTTNS MeV OVK av MGAAoV, eVTYXHs SF 
tows. 6 
te Some would translate zpovwris in the same manner as in verse 


16 ALCESTIS. [197—234. 


not, and was answered in return. Such are the woes 
in the house of Admetus. And had he died indeed, he 
would have perished; but now that he has escaped 
death, he has grief to that degree which he will never 
forget. 

CHor. Surely Admetus groans at these evils, if he 
must be deprived of so excellent a wife. 

ATT. Yes, he weeps, holding his dear wife in his hands, 
and prays her not to leave him, asking impossibilities ; 
for she wastes away, and is consumed by sickness, but 
fainting a wretched burden in hisarms, yet still though 
but feebly breathing, she fain would glance toward the 
rays of the sun; as though never again, but now for 
the last time she is to view the sun’s beam and his orb. 
But I will go and announce your presence, for it is by 
no means all that are well-wishers to their lords, so as 
to come kindly to them in their misfortunes ; but you 
of old are friendly to my master. 

SEmMIcH. O Jove, what means of escape can there in 
any way be, and what method to rid us of the fortune 
which attends my master ? 

SEMIcH. Will any appear? or must I cut my locks, 
and clothe me even now in black array of garments ? 

SemicH. “Tis plain, my friends, too plain; but still 
let us pray to the Gods, for the power of the Gods is 
mightiest. 

SemicH. O Apollo, king of healing, find out some 
remedy for the evils of Admetus, procure it, O! procure 
it. For before this also thou didst find remedy, and 
now become our deliverer from death, and stop the 
murderous Pluto. 

SemicH. Alas! alas! woe! woe! O son of Pheres, 
how didst thou fare when thou wert deprived of thy 
wife? 

SemicH. Alas! alas! these things would even justify 
self-slaughter, and there is more, than whereat one 
might thrust one’s neck in the suspending noose. 

SEMICH. For nota dear, but a most dear wife, wilt 
thou see dead this day. 


16 Conf. Ter. : Phorm. iv. 4,5. Opera tua ad restim mihi quidem 
res rediit planissume. 


235—263.] . ALCESTIS. aS 17 


SemicH. Behold, behold; lo! she doth come from the 
house, and her husband with her. Cry out, O groan, 
O land of Pheres, for the most excellent woman, wast- 
ing with sickness, departing beneath the earth to the 
infernal Pluto. Never will I aver that marriage brings 
more joy than grief, forming my conjectures both from 
former things, and beholding this fortune of the-king ; 
who, when he has lost this most excellent wife, will - 
thenceforward pass a life not worthy to be called life.17 


' ALCESTIS, ADMETUS, EUMELUS, CHORUS. 


Auc. Thou Sun, and, thou light of day, and ye heav- 
enly eddies of the fleeting clouds 

ApM. He beholds #* thee and me, two unhappy crea- 
tures, having done nothing to the Gods, for which thou 
shouldst die. 

Auc. O earth, and ye roofs of the palace, and thou 
bridal bed of my native Iolcos. 

Ap. Lift up thyself, unhappy one, desert me not ; 
but entreat the powerful Gods to pity. 

Ac. I see—I see the two-oared boat—and the ferry- 
man of the dead, holding his hand on the pole—Charon 
even now calls me—‘‘ Why dost thou delay ? haste, thou 
stoppest us here”—with such words vehement he 
hastens me. 

Ap. Ah me! a bitter voyage this thou speakest of ! 
Oh! unhappy one, how do we suffer! 

Auc. He pulls me, some one pulls me—do you not 
see ?—to the hall of the dead, the winged Pluto, staring 
from beneath his black eyebrows—W hat wilt thou do? 
—let me go—what a journey am I most wretched go- 
ing! 

ApM. Mournful to thy friends, and of these especially 
to me and to thy children, who have this grief in com- 
mon, : 

Ac. Leave off?® supporting me, leave off now, lay 
me down, I haveno strengthin my feet. Deathis near, 





17 Perhaps it is unnecessary to remark, that aSiwrov agrees with 
Biov implied in Broréveer. 
318 opa scilicet jAcos. Monk 19 Cf. Hippol. 1372. B. 
Q* 


18 ALCESTIS. [263—306 


and darkling night creeps upon mine eyes—my children, 
my children, no more your mother is—no more.—Fare- 
well, my children, long may you view this light ! 

Apm. Ah me! I hear this sad word, and more than 
any death tome. Do not by the Gods have the heart 
to leave me: do not by those children, whom thou wilt 
make orphans: but rise, be of good courage: for, thee 
dead, I should no longer be: for on thee we depend 
both to live, and not to live: for thy love we adore. 

Autc. Admetus, thou seest both thy affairs and mine, 
in what state they are, I wish to tell thee, ere I die, what 
I would have done. I, honoring thee, and causing thee 
at the price of my life to view this light, die, it being 
in my power not to die, for thee: but though I might 
have married a husband from among the Thessalians 
whom I would, and have lived in a palace blessed with 
regal sway, was not willing to live, bereft of thee, with 
my children orphans ; nor did I spare myself, though 
possessing the gifts of bloomy youth, wherein I delighted. 
And yet thy father and thy mother forsook thee, though 
they had well arrived at a point of life, in which they 
might have died, and nobly delivered their son, and died 
with glory : for thou wert their only one, and there was 
no hope, when thou wert dead, that they could have other 
children. And I should have lived, and thou, the rest 
of our time. And thou wouldst not be groaning de- 
prived of thy wife, and wouldst not have to bring up 
thy children orphans. But these things indeed, some 
one of the Gods hath brought to pass, that they should 
be thus. Be it so—but do thou remember to give me a 
return for this ; for never shall I ask thee for an equal one, 
(for nothing is more precious than life,) but just, as 
thou wilt say : for thou lovest not these children less 
than I do, if thou art right-minded ; them bring up 
lords over my house, and bring not in second marriage 
a stepmother over these children, who, being a worse 
woman than me, through envy will stretch out her 


20 Tt must be remembered that to survive one’s children was con- 
sidered the greatest of misfortunes. Cf. Plaut. Mil. Glor.1. 1 ‘‘ Ita 
ut tuum vis unicum gnatum tus Superesse vite, sospitem et 
superstitem.” B 


306—342.] ALCESTIS. 28g 


hand against thine and my children. Do not this then, 
I beseech thee ; for a stepmother that is in second 
marriage is enemy to the children of the former mar- 
riage, no milder than a viper. And my boy indeed has his 
father, a great towerof defense ; but thou, Oh my child. 
how wilt thou be brought up during thy virgin years? 
Having what consort of thy father’s? Jfear, lest casting 
some evil obloquy on thee, she destroys thy marriage in 
the bloom of youth.+ For neither will thy mother ever 
preside over thy nuptials, nor strengthen thee being 
present, my daughter, at thy travails, where nothing is 
more kind than a mother. For I needs must die, and 
this evil comes upon me not to-morrow, nor on the 
third day of the month, but immediately shall I be 
numbered among those that are no more. Farewell, 
and may you be happy ; and thou indeed, my husband, 
mayst boast. that thou hadst a most excellent wife, and 
you my children, that you were born of a most excellent 
mother. 

Cuor. Be of good cheer ; for I fear not to answer 
for him: he will do this, if he be not bereft of his 
senses. 

Apm. These things shall beso, they shall be, fear not : 
since I, when alive also, possessed thee alone, and when 
thou art dead, thou shalt be my only wife, and no Thes- 
salian bride shall address me in the place of thee: there 
is not woman who shall, either of so noble a sire, nor 
otherwise most exquisite in beauty. But my children 
are enough ; of these I pray the Gods that I may have 
the enjoyment ; for thee we do not enjoy. But I shall 
not have this grief for thee for a year, but as long as my 
life endures, O lady, abhorring her indeed that brought 
me forth, and hating my father ; for they were in word, 
not in deed, my friends. But thou, giving what was 
dearest to thee for my life, hast rescued me. Have I 
not then reason to groan deprived of sucha wife? But 
I will put an end to the feasts, and the meetings of those 
that drink together, and garland and song, which wont 


21 Kuinoel carries on the interrogation to yauovs and Buchanan 
has translated it according to this punctuation. Monk compares 
lliad, p. 953; umes me wepidréAwo” Eva TOAAOL. 


20 ALCESTIS. [343—380. 


to dwell in my house. For neither can I any more 
touch the lyre, nor lift up my heart to sing to the Liby- 
an flute ; for thou hast taken away my joyof life. But 
by the cunning hand of artists imaged thy figure shall 
be lain on my bridal bed, on which I will fall, and clasp- 
ing my hands around, calling on thy name, shall fancy 
that I hold my dear wife in mine arms, though holding 
her not : 2 acold delight, I ween; but still I may draw 
off the weight.that sits upon my soul: and in my dreams 
visiting me, thou mayst delight me, fora friend is sweet 
even to behold at night, for whatever time he may come. 
But if the tongue of Orpheus and his strain were mine, 
so that invoking with hymns the daughter of Ceres or 
her husband, I could receive thee from the shades be- 
low, I would descend, and neither the dog of Pluto, nor 
Charon at his oar, the ferryman of departed spirits, 
should stay me before I brought thy life to the light. 
But there expect me when I die and prepare a mansion 
for me, as about to dwell with me. ForI will enjoin 
these # to place me in the same cedar with thee, and 
to lay my side near thy side: for not even when dead 
may I be separated from thee, the only faithful one to 
me! 

CHor. And I indeed with thee, as a friend with a 
friend, will bear this painful grief for her, for she is 
worthy. 

Autc. My children, ye indeed hear your father saying 
that he will never marry another wife to be over you, 
nor dishonor me. 

Apm. And now too, I say this, and will perform it. 

Auc. For this receive these children from my hand. 

ApM. Yes, I receive a dear gift from a dear hand. 

soe Be thou then a mother to these children in my 
stead. 

Ap. There is much need that I should, when they 
are deprived of thee. 

ALc. O my children, at a time when I ought to live I 
depart beneath. 

ApM. Ah me ; what shall I do of thee bereaved ! 


22 Compare my note on Asch. Ag. 414sqq. B 
23 These, my children. 


381—420.] ALCESTIS. 2t 


Auc. Time will soften thy grief: he that is dead is 
nothing. 

Ap. Take me with thee, by the Gods take me be- 
neath. 

Ac. Enough are we fo go, who die for thee. 

Ap. O fate, of what a wife thou deprivest me! 

Auc. And lo! my darkening eye is weighed down. 

Ap. Iam undone then, if thou wilt leave me, my 


Ac. As being no more, you may speak of me as noth- 


Ap. Lift up thy face ; do not leave thy children. 
Auc. Not willingly in sooth, but—farewell, my chil- 


Apm. Look on them, O! look. 

Atc. Iam no more. 

ApM. What dost thou? dost thou leave us? 

Auc. Farewell! 

Ap. I am an undone wretch ! 

Cuor. She is gone, Admetus’ wife is no more, 

Eum. Alas me, for mystate! my mother is gone in- 
deed below ; she is no longer, my father, under the sun ; 
but unhappy leaving me has made my life an orphan’s, 
For look, look at her eyelid, and her nerveless arms. 
Hear, hear, O mother, I beseech thee ; I, I now call 
thee, mother, thy young one falling on thy mouth—— 

Apm. Who hears not, neither sees : sothat I and you 
are struck with a heavy calamity. 

Eum. Young and deserted, my father, am I left by 
my dear mother: O! I that have suffered indeed dread- 
ful deeds !—and thou hast suffered with me, my sister. 
O father, in vain, in vain didst thou marry, nor with 
her didst thou arrive at the end of old age, for she per- 
ished before, but thou being gone, mother, the house is 
undone. 

Cuor. Admetus, you must bear this calamity ; for in 
no wise the first, nor the last of mortals hast thou lost 
thy dear wife : but learn, that to die is a debt we must 
all of us discharge. 

Ap. I know it, and this evil hath not come suddenly 
on me ; but knowing it long agoI was afflicted. But 


22 ALCESTIS. [421—462. 


be present, for I will have the corse borne forth, and 
while ye stay, chant a hymn to the God below that ac- 
cepteth not libations. And all the Thessalians, over 
whom I reign, I enjoin to share in the grief for this 
lady, by shearing their locks with steel, and by array- 
ing themselvesin sable garb. And harness * your teams 
of horses to your chariots, and cut from your single 
steeds the manes that fall upon their necks. And let 
there be no noise of pipes, nor of the lyre thoughout the 
city for twelve completed moons. For none other corse 
more dear shall I inter, nor one more kind toward me. 
But she deserves to receive honor from me, seeing that 
she alone hath died forme. 


CHORUS. 


O daughter of Pelias, farewell where thou dwellest in 
sunless dwelling within the mansions of Pluto. And let 
Pluto know, the God with ebon locks, and the old man, 
the ferryman of the dead, who sits intent upon his oar 
and his rudder, that he is conducting by far the most 
excellent of women in his two-oared boat over the lake 
of Acheron. Oft shall the servants of the Muses sing of 
thee, celebrating thee both on the seven-stringed lute 
on the mountains, and in hymns unaccompanied by the 
lyre : in Sparta, when returns the annual circle in the 
season of the Carnean month,2® when the moon is up 
the whole night long ; and in splendid ** and happy 
Athens. Such a song hast thou left by thy death to the 
minstrels of melodies. Would that it rested with me, 
and that I could waft thee to the light from the man- 
sions of Pluto, and from Cocytus’ streams, by the oar of 
that infernal river. For thou, O unexampled, O dear 
among women, thou didst dare to receive thy husband 
from the realms below in exchange for thine own life. 





24 Reisk proposes to read réOpimma Sé Cevyn Te Kat. And both 
from your chariot teams, and from your single horses cut the 
manes. 

25 This festival was celebrated in honor of Apollo at Sparta, from 
the seventh to the sixteenth day of the month Carneus. See 
Monk. B. 

26 On Awapais "AOavats, see Monk. B. 


463—492.] ALCESTIS. 23 


Light may the earth from above fall upon thee, lady! 
and if thy husband chooses any other alliance, surely 
he will be much detested by me and by thy children. 
When his mother was not willing for him to hide her 
body in the ground, nor his aged father, but these two 
wretches, having hoary locks, dared not to rescue him 
they brought forth, yet thou in the vigor of youth didst 
depart, having died for thy husband. May it be mine 
to meet with another 277 sucha dear wife ; for rare in 
life is such a portion, for surely she would live with me 
forever without once causing pain. 


HERCULES, CHORUS. 


Her. Strangers, inhabitants of the land of Pheres, can 
I find Admetus within the palace ? f 

Cuor. The son of Pheres is within the palace, O 
Hercules. But tell me, what purpose sends thee to the 
land of the Thessalians, so that thou comest to this city 
of Pheres? 

HER. I am performing a certain labor for the Tiryn- 
thian Eurystheus. 

CHor. And whither goest thou? on what wandering 
expedition art bound ? 

Her. After the four chariot-steeds of Diomed the 
Thracian. 

CuHor. How wilt thoube able? Art thou ignorant of 
this host ? 

HER. I am ignorant ; I have not yet been to the land 
of the Bistonians. : 
: — Thou canst not be lord of these steeds without 

attle. 

HER. But neither is it possible for me torenounce the 
labors set me. 

Cuor. Thou wilt come then having slain, or being 
slain wilt remain there. 

HER. Not the first contest this that I shall run. 

Cuor. But what advance will you have made, when 
you have overcome their master ? 

Her. I will drive away the horses to king Eurystheus. 


27 Literally, the duplicate of such a wife. 


24 ALCESTIS. [493—518. 


_ CHor. "Tis no easy matter to put the bit in their 
jaws. 

HER. ’Tis, except they breathe fire from their nostrils. 

Cuor. But they tear men piecemeal with their devour- 
ing jaws. 

Her. The provender of mountain beasts, not horses, 
you are speaking of. 

Cuor. Their stalls thou mayst behold with blood be- 
stained. 

Her. Son of what sire does their owner boast to be? 

Cuor. Of Mars, prince of the Thracian target, rich 
_ with gold. 

Her. And this labor, thou talkest of, is one my fate 
compels me to (for it is ever hard and tends to steeps) ; 
if I must join in battle with the children whom Mars 
begat, first indeed with Lycaon, and again with Cycnus, 
and Icome to this third combat, about to engage with 
the horses and their master. But none there is, who 
shall ever see the son of Alemena fearing the hand of 
his enemies. 

Cuor. And lo! hither comes the very man Admetus, 
lord of thisland, from out of the palace. 


ADMETUS, HERCULES, CHORUS. 


Ap. Hail! O son of Jove, and of the blood of 

Perseus. 

Her. Admetus, hail thou too, king of the Thes- 
salians ! 

ADM. I would I could receive this salutation ; but I 
know that thou art well disposed toward me. 

Her. Wherefore art thou conspicuous with thy locks 
shorn for grief? 

Apo. I am about to bury a certain corse this day. 

Her. May the God avert calamity from thy children ! 

Ap. My children whom I begat, live in the house. 

Her. Thy father however is of full age, if he is gone. 

Ap. Both he lives, and she who bore me, Hercules. 


28 Gvat méATns, SO avak Kwmys in Asch. Pers. 384, of arower. Wake- 
field compares Ovid’s Clypei dominus septemplicis Ajax, MONK. 


¢ 


519—544.] ALCESTIS. 25 


Her. Surely your wife Alcestisis not dead ? 

ApM. Thereare two accounts which I may tell of her. 

HER. Speakest thou of her as dead or as.alive ? 

ADM. She both is, and is no more, and she grieves me. 
_ Her. I know nothing more; for thou speakest things 
obscure. 

ADM. Knowest thou not the fate which it was doomed 
for her to meet with ? 

Her. I know that she took upon herself to die for 
thee. 

ices How then is she any more, if that she promised 

this ? 

Her. Ah! do not weep for thy wife before the time ; 
wait till this happens. 

Ap. He that is about to die is dead, and he that is 
dead is no more. 

Her. The being and the not being is considered a 
different thing. 

ApM. You judge inthis way, Hercules, but I in that. 

Her. Why then dost weep? Whois heof thy friends 
that is dead ? 

ApM. A woman, a woman we were lately mentioning. 

Her. A stranger by blood, or any by birth allied to 
thee? 

Ap. A stranger; but on other account dear to this 
house. 

Her. How then died she in thine house? 

Ap. Her father dead, she lived an orphan here. 

Her. Alas! Would that I had found thee, Admetus, 
not mourning! 

Ap. As about to do what then, dost thou make use 
of these words? 

Her. I will go to some other hearth of those who will 
receive a guest. 

Ap. It must not be, O king: let not so great an 
evil happen ! 

HER. Troublesome is a guest if he come to mourners. 

ApDM. The dead are dead—but go into the house. 

Her. "Tis base however to feast with weeping friends, 

Ap. The guest-chamber, whither we will lead thee, 
is apart. 


26 ALCESTIS. [544—581.- 


HER. Let me go, and I will owe you ten thousand 
thanks. 

Ap. It must not be that thou go to the hearth of 
another man. Lead on thou, having thrown open the 
guest-chamber that is separate from the house: and 
tell them that have the management, that there be 
plenty of meats; and shut the gates in the middle of 
the hall: it is not meet that feasting guests should 
hear groans, nor should they be made sad. 

Cuor. What are you doing? whenso great a calamity 
is before you, Admetus, hast thou the heart to receive 
guests? wherefore art thou foolish ? 

ApM. But if I had driven him who came my guest 
from my house, and from the city, would you have 
praised me rather? No in sooth, since my calamity 
had been no whit the less, but I the more inhospitable : 
and in addition to my evils, there had been this other 
evil, that mine should be called the stranger-hating 
house. But I myself find this man a most excellent 
host, whenever I go to the thirsty land of Argos. 

CHor. How then didst thou hide thy present fate, 
when a friend, as thou thyself sayest, came? 

ApM. He never would have been willing to enter the 
house if he had known aught of my sufferings. And to 
him 2? indeed, I ween, acting thus, I appear not to be 
wise, nor will he praise me ; but my house knows not 
to drive away, nor to dishonor guests. 


CHORUS. 


O greatly hospitable and ever liberal house of this 
man, thee even the Pythian Apollo, master of the lyre, 
deigned to inhabit, and endured to become a shepherd 
in thine abodes, through the sloping hills piping to thy 
flocks his pastoral nuptial hymns. And there were 
wont to feed with them, through delight of his lays, 
both the spotted lynxes, and the bloody troop of lions *° 

29 Heath and Markland take re for tu. 

80 Cf. Theocrit. Id. i. 71 sqq. of Daphnis, thvov pév OGes, THvov AvKoL 
epicavto, Tivov xo xk Spumoio A€wv avéxAavoe OavovTa . . . TOAAGL pév 
map togat Bodes, ToAAOl dé Te Tadpor, ToAAGL 8 av dauddar Kai méprties 
wdvpavro. Virg. Ecl. v. 27 sqq. Calpurntus, Ecl. ii. 18. Nemesianus, 
Ecl. i. 74 sqq. ; ii. 32. B. 


581—614.] ALCESTIS. 27 


came having left the forest of Othrys; disported too 
around thy cithern, Phoebus, the dappled fawn, advanc- 
ing with light pastern beyond the lofty-feathered pines, 
joying in the gladdening strain. Wherefore he dwelleth 
in a home most rich in flocks by the fair-flowing lake of 
Boebe ; and to the tillage of his fields, and the extent of 
his plains, toward that dusky part of the heavens, where 
the sun stays his horses, makes the clime of the Molos- 
sians the limit, and holds dominion as far as the port- 
less shore of the Agean Sea at Pelion. And now havy- 
ing thrown open his house he hath received his guest . 
with moistened eyelid, weeping over the corse of his 
dear wife, who but now died in the palace: for a noble 
disposition is prone to reverence [of the guest]. But 
in the good there is all manner of wisdom. And con- 
fidence is seated on my soul that the man who reveres 
the Gods will fare prosperously. 


ADMETUS, CHORUS. 


ApM. Ye men of Phere that are kindly present, my 
servants indeed bear aloft *! the corse, having every- 
thing fit for the tomb, and for the pyre. But do you, 
as is the custom, salute * the dead going forth on her 
last journey. 

Cuor. And lo! Isee thy father advancing with his 
aged foot, and attendants bearing in their hands adorn- 
ment for thy wife, due honors of those beneath. 


PHERES, ADMETUS, CHORUS. 
PHE. I am at present sympathizing in thy misfor- 


31 apdyv yiverar amd Tod aipery, SnAot Sé 7d Hopadnv. Schol. 

* Cf. Suppl. 773 “ Acéou re woAmas éxxéw Saxpuppoous, didous mpocavdar, 
@v AcAetupvos Tadas épnuakdAaiw. See Gorius Monum. sive Colum- 
bar. Libert. Florent. cic.ic. ce. xxvii. p. 186, who observes, 
““yatpe was the acustomed salutation Gddacmned to the dead. 
Catullus, Carm. xevii. Accipe fraterno multum manantia fletu 
atque in perpetuum frater HAVE, atque VALE.” The same, 
scholar compares a monument, apud Fabretti, cap. v. p. 392, n. 265, 

Dat M 
AVE SALVINIA 
OMNUM . AMAN 

TISSIMA . ET 


VALE, 
which is very apposite to the present occasion. B. 


28 ALCESTIS. [614—649. 


tunes, my son; for thou hast lost (no one will deny) a 
good and a chaste wife ; but these things indeed thou 
must bear, though hard to be borne. But receive this 
adornment, and let it go with her beneath the earth : 
Her body ’tis right to honor, who in sooth died to save 
thy life, my son, and made me to be not childless, nor 
suffered me to waste away deprived of thee in an old 
age of misery. But she has made most illustrious the 
life of all women, having dared this noble action. O 
thou that hast preserved my son here, and hast raised 

-us up who were falling, farewell,®* and may it be well 
with thee even in the mansions of Pluto! I affirm 
that such marriages are profitable to men, or that it is 
not meet to marry. 

Ap. Neither hast thou come bidden of me to this 
funeral, nor do I count thy presence among things ac- 
ceptable. But she here never shall put on thy decora. 
tions; for in no wise shall she be buried indebted tu 
what thou hast. Then oughtest thou to have grieved 
with me, when I was in danger of perishing.** But dost 
thou, who stoodest aloof, and permittedst another, a 
young person, thyself being old, to die, weep over this 
dead body? Thou wert not then really the father of 
me, nor did she, who says she bore me, and is called 
my mother, bear me; but born of slavish blood I was 
secretly put under the breast of thy wife. Thou show- 
edst when thou camest to the test, who thou art; and 
I deem that I am not thy son. Or else surely thou 
exceedest all in nothingness of soul, who being of the 
age thou art, and having come tothe goal of life, neither 
hadst the will nor the courage to die for thy son; but 
sufferedst this stranger lady, whom alone I might justly 
have considered both mother and father. And yet thou 
mightst have run this race for glory, hadst thou died for 
thy son. But at any rate the remainder of the time 
thou hadst to live was short: and I should have lived 
and she the rest of our days, and I should not, bereft of 


33 Wakefield reads xaipe xdv Atdov Séuors; having in his mind 
probably Hom. Il. ¥. 19. Xatpé wor & Marpoxae, cai civ “Aidao Séuoror. 

34 T should scarcely have observed that this is the proper sense 
of the imperfect, had not the former translator mistaken it. B. 


650—686.] ALCESTIS. 29 


her, be groaning at my miseries, And in sooth thou 
didst receive as many things as a happy man should - 
receive ; thou passedst the vigor of thine age indeed 
in sovereign sway, but I was thy son to succeed thee 
in this palace, so that thou wert not about to die child- 
less and leave a desolate house for others to plunder. 
Thou canst not however say of me, that I gave thee 
up to die, dishonoring thine old age, whereas I was 
particularly respectful toward thee; and for this be- 
havior both thou, and she that bare me, have made me 
such return. Wherefore you have no more time to lose 
in getting children, who will succor thee in thine old 
age, and deck thee when dead, and lay out thy corse ; 
for I will not bury thee with this mine hand; forI 
in sooth died, as far as in thee lay; but if, having met 
with another deliverer, I view the light, I say that lam 
both his child, and the friendly comforter of his old 
age. In vain then do old men pray to be dead, com- 
plaining of age, and the long time of life: but if death 
come near, not one is willing to die, and old age is no 
longer burdensome to them.*® 

Cuor. Desist, for the present calamity is sufficient ; 
and do not, O son, provoke thy father’s mind. 

PuHE. O son, whom dost thou presume thou art gibing 
with thy reproaches, a Lydian or a Phrygian bought 
with thy money ?3’ Knowest thou not that lam a Thes- 
salian, and born from a Thessalian father, truly free? 
Thou art too insolent, and casting the impetuous words 
of youth against us, shalt not having cast them thus de- 
part. But I begat thee the lord of my house, and 
brought thee up, but Iam not thy debtor to die for thee ; 
for I received no paternal law like this, nor Grecian 
law, that fathers should die for their children ; for for 
thyself thou wert born, whether unfortunate or for- 
tunate, but what from us thou oughtest to have, thou 
hast. Thou rulest indeed over many, and I will leave 


8° Cf. Iph. Taur. 244. xépyiBas 5€ nai xatapyuata ovs av POdvas av 
evTpery tovovmevyn. B. 
86 An apparent allusion to the fable of Death and the Old Man. B. 
87 Aristophanes’ version of this line is, @ mai, tiv’ avyeis, rétepa 
Avdov  Ppvya Moppodvtrec Gar Soxis. B. 
¥ 


30 ALCESTIS. [687—718. 


thee a large demesne of lands, for these I received from 
my father. In what then have I injured thee? Of 
what do I deprive thee? Thou joyest to see the light, 
and dost think thy father does not joy? Surely I 
count the time we must spend beneath long, and life is 
short, but still sweet. Thou too didst shamelessly 
fight off from dying, and livest, having passed over thy 
destined fate, by slaying her ; then dost thou talk of my 
nothingness of soul, O most vile one, when thou art 
surpassed by a woman who died for thee, the hand- 
some youth? But thou hast made a clever discovery, 
so that thou mayst never die, if thou wilt persuade the 
wife that is thine from time to time to die for thee: 
and then reproachest thou thy friends who are not 
willing to do this, thyself being a coward? Hold thy 
peace, and consider, if thou lovest thy life, that alllove 
theirs; but if thou shalt speak evil against us, thou 
shalt hear many reproaches and not false ones. 

CuHor. Too many evil things have been spoken both 
now and before, but cease, old man, from reviling thy 
son. 

Ap. Speak, for I have spoken; but if thou art 
grieved at hearing the truth, thou shouldst not err 
against me. 

Pue. But had I died for thee, I had erred more. 

ApmM. What? is it the same thing for a man in his 
prime, and for an old man to die? 

PHE. We ought to live with one life, not with two. 

Apo. Mayst thou then live a longer time than Jove! 

PueE. Dost curse thy parents, having met with no in- 
justice ? 

Av. Isaidit, for I perceived thou lovedst a long life. 
_. Pus. But art not thou bearing forth this corse instead 
of thyself ? 

Ap. A proof this, O most vile one, of thy nothing- 
ness of soul. 

PuE. She died not by us at least; thou wilt not say 
this. 

88 Turned by Aristophanes into an apology for beating one’s 


father, Nub. 1415. xAdovor maides, marépa 5’ ov KkdAdeww Soxets. See 
Thesmoph. 194. B 


719—749.] ALCESTIS. 3r 


Apm. Alas! Oh that you may ever come to need my 
aid! 

PHE. Wed many wives, that more may die. 

Ap. This is a reproach to thyself, for thou wert not 
willing to die. er 

PHE. Sweet is this light of the God, sweet is it. 

Ap. Base is thy spirit and not that of men. 

PuE. Thou doest not laugh as carrying an aged corse. 

Apm. Thou wilt surely however die inglorious, when 
thou diest. : 

Pue. To bear an evil report is no matter to me when 
dead. 

Ap. Alas! alas! how full of shamelessness is old 
age! 

Pmt She was not shameless: her you found mad. 

ApM. Begone, and suffer me to bury this dead. 

PuHE. I will depart ; but you will bury her, yourself 
being hor murderer. But you will render satisfaction 
to your wife’s relatives yet : or surely Acastus no longer 
ranks among men, if he shall not revenge the blood of 
his sister. 

ApM. Get thee gone, then, thou and thy wife ; child- 
less, thy child yet living, as ye deserve, grow old; for 
ye no more come into the same house with me: and if 
it were necessary for me to renounce by heralds thy 
paternal hearth, I would renounce it. But let us (for 
the evil before us must be borne) proceed, that we 
may place the corse upon the funeral pyre. 

CHOoR. O! O! unhappy because of thy bold deed, O 
noble, and by far most excellent, farewell! may both 
Mercury ® that dwells beneath, and Pluto, kindly re- 
ceive thee ; but if there too any distinction is shown to 
the good, partaking of this mayst thou sit by the bride 
of Pluto. : 

SERVANT. 
[have now known many guests, and from all parts 


of the earth that have come to the house of Admetus, 
to whom I have spread the feast, but never yet did I 


89 Cf. Hsch. Choeph. sub init. and Gorius, Monum. Libert. p. 
24. ad Tab. x, lit. A. 


32 ALCESTIS. [750—782. 


receive into this house a worse one than this stranger. 
Who, in the first place, indeed, though he saw my 
master in affliction, came in, and prevailed upon him- 
self to pass the gates. And then not at all in a modest 
manner received he the entertainment that there hap- 
pened to be, when he heard of the calamity : but if we 

did not bring any thing, he hurried us to bring it. 

And having taken in his hands the cup wreathed with 
ivy,* he quaffs the neat wine of the purple mother, 

until the fumes of the liquor coming upon him inflamed 
. him; and he crowns his head with branches of myrtles 
howling discordantly ; and there were two strains to 
hear; for he was singing, not caring at all for the 
afflictions of Admetus, but we the domestics, were be- 
wailing our mistress, and we showed not that we were 
weeping to the guest, for thus Admetus commanded. 
And now indeed I am performing the offices of hos- 
pitality to the stranger in the house, some deceitful 
thief and robber. But she is gone from the house, nor 
did I follow, nor stretched out my hand in lamentation 
for my mistress, who was a mother to me, and to all 
the domestics, for she saved us from ten thousand ills, 
softening the anger of her husband. Do I not then 
justly hate this stranger, who is come in our miseries ? 


HERCULES, SERVANT. 


Her. Ho there! why dost thou look so grave and 
thoughtful? The servant ought not to be of woeful 
countenance before guests, but should receive them 
with an affable mind. But thou, though thou seest a 
companion of thy lord present, receivest him with a 
morose and clouded countenance, fixing thy attention 
on a calamity that thou hast nothing to do with. 
Come hither, that thou mayst become more wise. 
Knowest thou mortal affairs, of what nature they are ? 
I think not; from whence should you? but hear me. 
Death is a debt that all mortals must pay; and there 


i 
40 Theocrit. i. 27. Kai Badd xicovBrov kexaAvopévor abet Kapa, TH rept 
ev xeiAn mapeveTar VWOOL KLTGds, 


783—816.] - ALCESTIS: 33 


is not of. them one, who knows whether he shall live 
the coming morrow: for what depends on fortune’ is 
uncertain how it will turn out, and is not to be learned, 
neither is it detected by art. Having heard these 
things then, and learned them from me, make thyself 
merry, drink, and think the life allowed from day to 
day thine own, but the rest Fortune’s. And honor 
also Venus, the most sweet of deities to mortals, for 
she is a kind deity. But let go these other things, and 
obey my words, if I appear to speak rightly: 1 think 
so indeed. Wilt thou not then leave off thy excessive 
grief, and drink with me, crowned with garlands, hay- 
ing thrown open these gates? And well know I that 
the trickling of the cup falling down thy throat will 
change thee from thy present cloudy and pent state of 
mind. But we who are mortals should think as mor- 
tals. Since to all the morose, indeed, and to those of 
sad countenance, if they take me as judge at least, life 
is not truly life, but misery. 

SERV. I know this; but now we are in circumstances 
not such as are fit for revel and mirth. 

Her. The lady that is dead is a stranger; grieve not 
too much, for the lords of this house live. 

SERV. What live! knowest thou not the misery 
within the house ? 

Her. Unless thy lord hath told me anything falsely. 

SERV. He is too, too hospitable. 

Her. Is it unmeet that I should be well treated, be- 
cause a stranger is dead ? 

Serv. Surely however she was very near. 

Her. Has he forborne to tell me any calamity that 
there is? 

SERV. Depart and farewell; we havea care for the 
evils of our lords. 

Her. This speech is the beginning of no foreign 
loss. ‘ 

Serv. For I should not, had it been foreign, have 
been grieved at seeing thee revelling. 

Her. What! have I received so great an injury 
from mine host? 

Serv. Thou camest not in a fit time for the house to 


34 ALCESTIS. [817—849. 


receive thee, for there is grief to us, and thou seest 
that we are shorn, and our black garments. 

- Her. But who is it that is dead? Has either any of 
his children died, or his aged father ? 

Serv. The wife indeed of Admetus is dead, O 
stranger. 

Her. What sayest thou? and yet did ye receive me? 

SERV. Yes, for he had too much respect to turn thee 
from his house. 

HER. O unhappy man, what a wife hast thou lost! 

SERV. We all are lost, not she alone. 

Her. But I did perceive it indeed, when I saw his 
eye streaming with tears, and his shorn hair, and 
his countenance ; but he persuaded me, saying, that 
he was conducting the funeral of a stranger to the 
tomb: but spite of my inclination having passed over 
these gates, I drank in the house of the hospitable man, 
while he was in this case, and revelled, crowned as to 
my head with garlands. But ’twas thine to tell me 
not to do it, when such an evil was upon the house. 
: egy is he burying her? whither going can I find 

er? 

SERV. By the straight road that leads to Larissa, 
thou wilt see the polished tomb beyond the suburbs. 


HERCULES. 


O my much-daring heart and my soul, now show 
what manner of son the Tirynthian Alcmena, daughter 
of Electryon, bare thee to Jove. For I must rescue 
the woman lately dead, Alcestis, and place her again 
in this house, and perform this service for Admetus. 
And going I will lay wait for the sable-vested king of 
the departed, Death, and I think that I shall find him 
drinking of the libations near the tomb. And if hav- 
ing taken him by lying in wait, rushing from my am- 
bush, I shall seize hold of him, and make a circle 
around him with mine arms, there is not who shall 
take him away panting as to his sides, until he re- 
lease me the woman. But if however I fail of this 
capture, and he come not to the clottered mass of 


850—884.] ALCESTIS. 35 


blood, I will go a journey beneath to the sunless man- 
sions of Cora and her king, and will prefer my request ; 
and I trust that I shall bring up Alcestis, so as to place 
her in the hands of that host, who received me into his 
house, nor drove me away, although struck with a 
heavy calamity, but concealed it, noble as he was, hav- 
ing respect unto me. Who of the Thessalians is more 
hospitable than he? Who that dwelleth in Greece? 
Wherefore he shall not say, that he did a service to a 
worthless man, himself being noble. 


ADMETUS, CHORUS. 


Apm. Alas! alas! O hateful approach, and hateful 
prospect of this widowed house. Ohme! Alas! alas! 
whither can I go! where rest! what can Isay! and 
what not! would that I could perish! Surely my 
mother brought me forth to heavy fortune. I count 
the dead happy, them I long for! those houses I desire 
to dwell in: for neither delight Iin viewing the sun- 
beams, nor treading with my foot upon the earth; of 
such a hostage has death robbed me, and delivered up 
to Pluto. 

CuHor. Advance, advance ; go into the recesses of the 
house. 

(Apm. Oh! Oh!) 

Thou hast suffered things that demand groans. 

(ApM. Alas! alas!) 

Thou hast gone through grief, I well know. 

(ApM. Woe! Woe!) 

Thou nothing aidest her that is beneath. 

(ApmM. Ah me! me!) 

. Never to see thy dear wife’s face again before thee, is 
severe. : 

ApM. Thou hast made mention of that which ulcer- 
ated my soul; for what can be greater ill to man than 
to lose his faithful wife? Would that I never had 
married and dwelt with her in the palace. ButI judge 
happy those, who are unmarried and childless; for 
theirs is one only life, for this to grieve is a moderate 
burden: but to behold the diseases of children, and the 


36 oa) ALCESTIS. [88s—918. 


bridal bed wasted by death, is not supportable, when 
it were in one’s power to be without children and un- 
married the whole of life. 

Cuor. Fate, fate hard to be struggled with hath 
come. 

(ApM. Oh! Oh!) 

But puttest thou no bound to thy sorrows ? 

(Ap. Alas! alas!) 

Heavy are they to bear, but still - 

(ADM. Woe! woe!) 
endure, thou art not the first man that hast lost 

(Apm. Ah me! me!) 
thy wife; but calamity appearing afflicts different 
men in different shapes. 

Ap. O lasting griefs, and sorrows for our friends 
beneath the earth !——Why did you hinder me from 
throwing myself * into her hallowed grave, and from 
lying dead with her, by far the most excellent woman ? 
And Pluto would have retained instead of one, two 
most faithful souls having together passed over the 
infernal lake. 

Cuor. I hada certain kinsman, whose son worthy 
to be lamented, an only child, died in his house; but 
nevertheless he bore his calamity with moderation, 
being bereft of child, though now hastening to gray 
hairs, and advanced in life. 

Ap. O house, how can I enter in? and how dwell in 
thee now my fortune has undergone this change? Ah 
me! for there is great difference between : then indeed 
with Pelian torches, and with bridal songs I entered in, 
bearing the hand of my dear wife, and there followed 
a loud-shouting revelry hailing happy both her that is 
dead and me, inasmuch as being noble, and born of 
illustrious parents both, we were united together: but 
now the groan instead of hymeneals, and black array 
instead of white robes, usher me in to my deserted couch. 


41 Hamlet, v. 1. 
——Hold off the earth awhile, 
Till I have caught her once weir in mine arms: 
oe into the one. ] 
Now pile your dust upon the aa and dead. 


919—986.] ALCESTIS. 37 


Cuor. This grief came quick on happy fortune to the 
unschooled in evil: but thou hast saved thy life. Thy 
wife is dead, she left her love behind: what new thing 
this? Death has ere this destroyed many wives. 

ApM. My friends, I deem the fortune of my wife more 
happy than mine own, even although these things ap- 
pear not so. For her indeed no grief shall ever touch, 
and she hath with glory ceased from many toils. But 
I, who ought not to have lived, though I have scaped 
destiny, shall pass a bitter life; I but now perceive. 
For how can I bear the entering into this house? Whom 
speaking to, or by whom addressed,# can I have joy in 
entering? Whither shall I turn me? For the solitude 
within will drive me forth, when I see the place where 
my wife used to lie, empty, and the seat whereon she 
used to sit, and the floor throughout the house all dirty, 
and when my children falling about my knees weep 
their mother, and they lament their mistress, thinking 
what a lady they have lost from out of the house. Such 
things within the house; but abroad the nuptials of the 
Thessalians and the assemblies full of women will tor- 
ture me: for I shall not beable to look on the companions 
of my wife. But whoever is mine enemy will say thus 
of me: ‘‘ See that man, who basely lives, who dared not 
to die, but giving in his stead her, whom he married, 
escaped Hades (and then does he seem to be a man?) 
and hates his parents, himself not willing to die.”—— 
Such report shall I have in addition to my woes; why 
then is it the more honorable course for me to live, my 
friends, having an evil character and an evil fortune? 

Cuor. Itoo have both been borne aloft through song, 
and having very much handled arguments have found 
nothing more powerful than Necessity : nor is there any 
cure in the Thracian tablets which Orpheus* wrote, 
nor among those medicines, which Phoebus gave the 
sons of Atsculapius, dispensing #* them to wretched 
mortals. But neither to the altars nor to the image of 


$2 Cf. vs. 195. Ody od mpocetmre kat mpoceppyOn marty. B. 
48 Opdeta yapus, a paraphrasis for ’Opdevs. 
44 GyTiTeuva, meTAopLKws amd TOY Tas pilas TEMVOVTWY Kal EVPLTKOVTWP, 
Scuot. Tr. Cf. on sch. Agam. 17. B, 
4 


38 ; ALCESTIS. [987—1016. 


this Goddess alone, is it lawful to approach, she hears 
not victims. Do not, O revered one, come on me more 
severe, than hitherto in my life. For Jove, whatever 
he have assented to, with thee brings this to pass. 
Thou too perforce subduest the iron among the Chalybi ; 
nor has thy rugged spirit any remorse. 

And thee, Admetus, the Goddess hath seized in the 
inevitable grasp of her hand ; but bear it, for thou wilt 
never by weeping bring back on earth the dead from 
beneath. Even the sons of the Gods by stealth begotten 
perish in death. Dear she was while she was with us, 
and dear even now when dead. But thou didst join to 
thy bed * the noblest wife of all women. Nor let the 
tomb of thy wife be accounted as the mound over the 
dead that perish, but let it be honored equally with the 
Gods, a thing for travellers to adore : 4° and some one, 
going out of his direct road, shall say thus: ‘‘She in 
olden time died for her husband, but now she is a blest 
divinity : Hail, O adored one, and be propitious!” Such 
words will be addressed to her.—And lo! here comes, 
as it seems, the son of Alemena to thy house, Admetus. 


HERCULES, ADMETUS, CHORUS. 


HER. One should speak freely to a friend, Admetus, 
and not in silence keep within our bosoms what we 
blame. Now I thought myself worthy asa friend to 
stand near thy calamities, and to search them out ; *” 
but thou didst not tell me that it was thy wife’s corse 
that demanded thy attention ; but didst receive me in 
thy house, as though occupied in grief for one not thine. 
And I crowned my head and poured out to the Gods 


45In Phavorinus, among the senses of «A:oia, is KAivn Kat KALyn- 
TnpLov, 

46 It will be remembered that the tombs were built near the high- 
ways, with great magnificence, and sometimes very lofty, especi- 
ally when near the sea-coast (cf. Aisch. Choeph. 351. D’Orville on 
Charit. lib. i. sub. fin. Eurip. Hecub. 1273). They are often used as 
landmarks or milestones, as in Theocr. vi. 10, and as oratories or 
chapels, Apul. Florid. i. p. 340, ed. Elm. ‘ 

47 This appears the most obvious sense, as connected with what 
follows. All the interpreters, however, translate it, J thought my- 
self worthy, standing, as I did, near thy calamities, (i. e. near thee 
in thy calamities,) to be proved thy friend. 


I017-1055.] _ ALCESTIS. 39 


libations in thy house which had suffered this calamity. 
And Ido blame thee, I blame thee, having met with 
this treatment! not that I wish to grieve thee in thy 
miseries. But wherefore I am come, having turned 
back again, I will tell thee. Receive and take care of 
this woman for me, until I come hither driving the 
Thracian mares, having slain the king of the Bistonians. 
Butif Imeet with what I pray I may not meet with, (for 
may I return!) I give thee her as an attendant of thy 
palace. But with much toil came she into my hands ; 
for I find some who had proposed a public contest for 
wrestlers, worthy of my labors, from whence I bear off 
her, having received her as the prize of my victory ; for 
those who conquered in the lighter exercises had to re- 
ceive horses, but those again who conquered in the 
greater, the boxing and the wrestling, cattle, and a 
woman was added to these; but in me, who happened 
to be there, it had been base to neglect this glorious 
gain. But, as I said, the woman ought to be a care to 
you, for Iam come not having obtained her by stealth, 
but with labor ; but at some time or other thou too wilt 
perhaps commend me for it. 

Ap. By no meansslighting thee, nor considering thee 
among mine enemies, did I conceal from thee the un- 
happy fate of my wife; but this had been a grief added 
to grief, if thou hadst gone to the house of another host: 
but it was sufficient for me to weep my own calamity. 
But the woman, if it is in any way possible, I beseech 
thee, O king, bid some one of the Thessalians, who has 
not suffered what I have, to take care of (but thou hast 
many friends among the Pherzans) lest thou remind 
me of my misfortunes. I cannot, beholding her in the 
house, refrain from weeping ; add not a sickness to me 
already sick; for I am enough weighed down with 
misery. Where besides in the house can a youthful 
woman be maintained? for she is youthful, as she 
evinces by her garb and her attire; shall she then live 
in the men’s apartment? And how will she be unde- 
filed, living among young men? A man in his vigor, 
Hercules, it is no easy thing to restrain; but I have a 
care for thee. Or can I maintain her, having made her 


40 ALCESTIS. [1056-108 5. 


enter the chamber of her that is dead? And how can 
I introduce her into her bed? I fear a double accusa- 
tion, both from the citizens, lest any should convict me 
of having betrayed my benefactress, and lying in the 
bed of another girl ; and I ought to have much regard 
toward the dead (and she deserves my respect). But 
thou, O lady, whoever thou art, know that thou hast the 
same size of person with Alcestis, and art like her in 
figure. Ah me! take by the Gods this woman from 
mine eyes, lest you destroy me already destroyed. For 
I think, when I look upon her, that I behold my wife ; 
and it agitates my heart, and from mine eyes the streams 
break forth; O unhappy I, how lately did I begin to 
taste this bitter grief ! 

Cuor. I cannot indeed speak well of thy fortune ; 
but it behooves thee, whatever thou art, to bear with 
firmness the dispensation of the Gods. 

HER. Oh would that I had such poweras to bring thy 
wife to the light from the infernal mansions, and to do 
this service for thee ! 

ApM. Well know I that thou hast the will: but how 
can this be? It is not possible for the dead to come into 
the light. 

Her. Do not, I pray, go beyond all bound, but bear 
it decently. 

Ap. Tis easier to exhort, than suffering to endure. 

HER. But what advantage can you gain if you wish 
to groan forever ? 

Ap. I know that too myself; but acertain love im- 
pels me. 

Her. For to love one that is dead draws the tear. 

Ap. She hath destroyed me, and yet more than my 
words express. : 

Her. Thou hast lost an excellent wife; who will 
deny it? 

: Ap. Ay, so that I am no longer delighted with 
ife. 

Her. Time will soften the evil, but now it is yet in 
its vigor #8 on thee. 


48In the same manner 784 is used in Orestes, 687, drav yap nBa 
Simos eis Opyny megwr. 


1086-1108.] ALCESTIS. : 4t 


ApM. Time thou mayst say, if to die be time. 

Her. A wife will bid it cease, and the desire of a new 
marriage. 

ApM. Hold thy peace—What saidst thou? I could 
not have supposed it. 

HER. But why? what, wilt not marry, but pass a 
widowed life alone ? 

Ap. There is no woman that shall lie with me. 

Her. Dost thou think that thou art in aught benefit- 
ing her that is dead ? 

ApM. Her, wherever she is, Iam bound to honor. 

HER. I praise you indeed, I praise you; but you in- 
cur the charge of folly. 

ApM. Praise me, or praise me not; for you shall 
never call me bridegroom. : 

Her. I do praise thee, because thou art a faithful 
friend to thy wife. 

ApM. May I die, when I forsake her, although she is 
not! 

Her. Receive then this noble woman into thine 
house. 

Ap. Do not, I beseech thee by thy father Jove. 

Her. And yet you will be acting wrong, if you do 
not this. 

Ap. Yes, and if I do it, I shall have my heart 
gnawed with sorrow. 

HER. Be prevailed upon: perhaps this favor may be 
proved a duty. 

Apm. Ah! would that you had never borne her off 
from the contest ! 

Her. Yet with me conquering thou’rt victorious too. 

ApM. Thou hast well spoken ; but let the woman de- 

art. 

r Her. She shall depart, if it is needful; but first see 
whether it be needful. 

Ap. It is needful, if thou at least dost not mean to 
make me angry. 

Her. I too have this desire, for I know somewhat. 

ApMm. Conquer then. Thou dost not however do 
things pleasing to me. 

4% 


42 ALCESTIS. [1109-1131. 


Her. But some time or other thou wilt praise me; 
only be persuaded. 

Ap. Lead her in, if I must receive her in my house. 

Her. I will not deliver up the woman into the charge 
of the servants. 

Ap. But do thou thyself lead her into the house if 
it seems fit. 

Her. I then will give her into thine hands. 

Ap. I will not touch her; but she is at liberty to | 
enter the house. 

Her. I trust her to thy right hand alone. 

— O king, thou compellest me to do this against 
my will. 

HER. Dare to stretch out thy hand and touch the 
stranger. 

Apo. And in truth I stretch it out, as I would to the 
Gorgon with her severed head.* 

Her. Have you her? 

Ap. I have. 

HER. Then keep her fast; and some time or other 
thou wilt say that the son of Jove is a generous guest. 
But look on her, whether she seems aught to resemble 
thy wife ; and being blest leave off from thy grief. 

ApM. O Gods, what shall I say? An unexpected 
wonder this! Do I truly see here my wife, or does the 
mocking joy of the Deity strike me from my senses? 

HER. Si is not so; but thou beholdest here thy wife. 

ApM. Yet see, whether this be not a phantom from 
the realms beneath. 

Her. Thou hast not made thine host an invoker of. 
spirits. 

Ap. But do I behold my wife, whom I buried ? 

Her. Be well assured thou dost; but I wonder not 
at thy disbelief of thy fortune. 

ApM. May I touch her, may I speak to her as my liv- 
ing wife ?® 

49 i, e. the severed head’ of the Gorgon. Valckenaer observes, 
that thisis an expression meaning facie aversa, and compares L 
465 of the Phoenisse. 

59 Start not: her actions shall be holy, as, 


You hear, my spell is lawful: do not shun her, 
Until you see her die again ; for then 


1132-1155.] ALCESTIS. 43 


Her. Speak to her; for thou hast all that thou de- 
sirest. 

Ap. O face and person of my dearest wife, have I 
thee beyond my hopes, when I thought never to see 
thee more? : 

Her. Thou hast :.but take care there be no envy of 
the Gods. 

Ap. O noble son of the most iets Jove, mayst 
thou be blest, and may thy father, who begot thee, 
protect thee, for thou alone hast restored me! How 
didst thou bring her from beneath into this light ? 

Her. Having fought a battle with the prince of those 
beneath. 

Ap. Where dost thou say thou didst have this con- 
flict with Death? 

Her. At the tomb itself, having seized him from am- 
bush with my hands. 

Apm. But why, I pray, does this woman stand here 
speechless ? 

HER. It is not yet allowed thee to hear her address 
thee, before she is unbound from her consecrations *! 
to the Gods beneath, and the third day come. But 
lead her in, and as thou oughtest, henceforward, Ad- 
metus, continue in thy piety with respect to strangers. 
And farewell! But I will go and perform the task 
that is before me for the imperial son of Sthenelus. 

Ap. Stay with us, and be a companion of our hearth. 
‘ Her. This shall be some time hence, but now I must 

aste. 

Apm. But mayst thou be prosperous and return on 
thy journey back. But to the citizens, and to all the 
tetrarchy I issue my commands, that they institute 
dances in honor of these happy events, and make the 

You kill her double: Nay, present your hand : 
When she was young you woo’d her ; now, in age, 


Is she become the suitor ? 
Winter’s Tale, v. 3. Compare also Much Ado about Nothing, v. 4, 


5ladayvigew h. 1. non purificare sed desecrare. Orcus enim, 
quando gladio totondisset Alcestidis capillos, eam diis manibus 
sacram dicaverat, quod diserte jyvicac appellat noster, vide 75— 
77. Contraria igitur aliqua ceremonia desecranda erat, antequam 
Admeto ejus consuetudine et colloquio frui liceret. Hata. 


44 ALCESTIS. [11 56-1163. 


altars odorous with their sacrifices of oxen that ac- 
company their vows. For now are we placed in a bet- 
ter state of life than the former one: for I will not 
deny that Iam happy. 

Cuor. Many are the shapes of the things the deities 
direct, and many things the Gods perform contrary to 
our expectations. And those things which we looked - 
for are not accomplished ; but the God hath brought ;: 
to pass things not looked for. Such hath been thet 
event of this affair. 


‘ 





{ LIBRARY | 
Wallace High Sehool. 


CW 644 bois AORON vcbb eas 


NO. see essseeceesrereree) 











ELECTRA.’ 


PERSONS REPRESENTED. 


PEASANT. CLYTASMNESTRA. 
ELECTRA. OLD MAN. 

ORESTES. MESSENGER. 

I Ey (A DUMB PERSONAGE). CASTOR AND POLLUX. 





THE ARGUMENT. 


Tue return of Orestes from exile, and his revenge upon Clyteem- 
nestra and Atgisthus for the murder of Agamemnon. The sub- 
ject is the same as that of the ‘‘ Choephore”’ of Aischylus, bre 
the ‘“‘ Electra ’? of Sophocles, but is ‘handled with much Jess dra- 
matic skill, while the development is tedious and inartistic. 





: PEASANT, 


O ANCIENT Argos of the land,? [and] ye streams of 
Inachus, whence once on a time king Agamemnon, 
conducting the war, in a thousand ships sailed to the 
Trojan land. And having slain Priam, the ruler over 
the Trojan land, and taken the renowned city of Darda- 
nus, he came back to this Argos, and in the lofty tem- 
ples placed very many spoils of the barbarians ; and 


1T can pais the student but little satisfaction, the general 
reader still less, from the perusal of this very poor play. An able 
comparison of its merits with the plays of Auschylus and Sophocles 
on the same subject will be found in Schlegel’s ninth lecture. 
2 yns is redundant. See Marrura. 
45 


46 ELECTRA. [9-43. 


there indeed he was prosperous ; but at home he perishes 
by stratagem at the hands of his wife Clytzmnestra, 
and by the hand of Agisthus, son of Thyestes. And 
he indeed, having left the ancient sceptre of Tantalus, 
is no more ; but Atégisthus reigns over the land, having 
his wife, the daughter of Tyndarus. But they whom 
he left in his dwelling when he sailed to Troy, the male 
Orestes, and the female blossom of Electra, the former 
the old guardian of his father stole away, when, [by 
name] Orestes, he was about to perish by the hand of 
ZXgisthus, and gave him to Strophius to train up in the 
land of the Phocians.* But the latter [Electra] remained 
in the house of her father. Her, assoonas the blooming 
season of youth arrived, the first men of the land of 
Greece wooed as suitors. But fearing lest she should 
bring forth to any of the chieftains a son, who might 
take vengeance for Agamemnon, Avgisthus kept her in 
his house, nor united her to any bridegroom. But since 
this matter also was fraught with much dread, lest she 
should privily bear children to any noble man, when he 
wished to slay her, her mother, though cruel-minded, 
yet saved her from the hand of Agisthus. For in re- 
gard to her husband’s death she had a pretence ;* but 
she feared that by the death of her children she herself 
might die. Upon this, then, Agisthus devised such a 
. contrivance. He mentioned a sum of gold for him who 
should slay Orestes; who indeed was away from the 
land in exile ; but to mehe gives Electra to have as a 
wife, I being born of Mycenian sires ; (and on this ac- 
count, indeed, I am not liable to reproach, for I am 
noble at least in race, but yet poor in means, from 
whence a noble descent is lost ;) that giving her to a 
humble person, he might have little fear. Forif aman 
possessing dignity had obtained her, he would have 
roused up the death of Agamemnon, that now sleeps, 
~ and justice would then have come upon A%gisthus. 
But never did this man (Venus is my witness!) dis- 
honor her in his bed, but she is still a virgin. For I 


3 A mixture of the expressions édwxe, dare tpéperv ev 7H yf, and 
€menwev eis yHV. 
# Viz. the sacrifice of Iphigenia. 


44-83.] ELECTRA. 47 


am ashamed at having received the child of a pros- 
perous family, to do her an insult, not being by birth 
worthy fof her]. But I bewail the wretched Orestes, 
who is nominally related to me, if ever, returning to 
Argos, he shall behold the unhappy nuptials of his 
sister. But whoever says that I am foolish, because, 
having received a young virgin into my house, I touch 
her not, let him know that he measures continence by 
a bad rule of sentiment, and that he himself is such 
an one. 

Etec. O sable night, nurse of golden stars, during 
which, bearing this vessel placed on my head, I go in 
quest of river water; not indeed because I am reduced 
to so great necessity, but that I may show to the Gods 
the insult of Aigisthus, and may utter lamentations to 
the mighty ether for my sire. For the all-destructive 
daughter of Tyndarus, my mother, has cast me out of 
her house, doing a favor to her husband ; and having 
borne other children to Aigisthus, she accounts Orestes 
and me as things unimportant in her house. ; 

Pea. But why, O hapless one, dost thou labor thus 
for my sake, submitting to toils, when thou before wast 
well brought up, nor ceasest this, when I entreat you? 

Euec. I deem thee a friend equal to the Gods, for in 
mine ills thou hast not behaved insolently. But it isa 
great good fortune for mortals to find a physician in an 
- evil calamity, asI obtain thee. It behooves me then, 
even unbidden, lightening thy toil to the utmost of my 
power, that thou mayest more easily bear it, to partake 
in thy labors. And thou hast work enough without ; 
but matters within doors it behoves me to make ready. 
For it is sweet for a laborer entering from without, to 
find things within [his house] aright. 

Pea. If indeed it seems fit to thee, go, for the streams 
are not far from this house. But I at dawn of day will 
drive my steers into the corn-lands, and sow the fields. 
For no slothful man, having the Gods continually in 
va mouth, will be able to obtain a livelihood without 

abor. 

ORESTES. Pylades, for thee indeed I above all men ac- 
count a faithful friend and guest to me; and thou alone 


48 ELECTRA. [84-116. 


of my friends hast respected me, Orestes, faring as I 
fare, having suffered terribly at the hands of Agisthus, 
who, with my all-abandoned mother, destroyed my 
sire. But I have come from the oracles of the God to 
the Argive threshold, no one being conscious, in order 
to punish the slaughter of my father by slaughter. 
But during this night having gone to the tomb of my 
sire, I both gave tears, and made offerings of my hair, 
and sacrificed at the tomb the blood of a slain sheep, 
unknown to the tyrants who sway this land. And 
within the walls, indeed, I advance not my foot ; but I 
came to the boundaries of this land framing two proj- 
ects,> that I may turn away with my foot to another 
land, should any one of the watch recognize me while 
seeking my sister, for they say that she living is united 
in nuptials and does not remain a virgin, in order that 
I may converse with her, and, obtaining her for an 
assistant in the slaughter, may learn clearly the mat- 
ters within the house. Now therefore, for morn is 
raising her shining face, we will turn our footsteps out 
of this track. For either some ploughman or some do- 
mestic woman will appear to us, of whom we may in- 
quire whether my sister dwells in this place. But— 
(for I see some servant coming hither, with shorn hair, 
bearing a burden of water)—let us sit down, and learn 
from this female slave, if we can receive any intelli- 
gence as to the matters for which, O Pylades, we are 
come to this land. 

ELec. Hasten on the course of my foot,6 O hour ; O, 
go thou on, go on, weeping. Alas! forme, for me. I 
was born of Agamemnon, and Clytzmnestra, the hateful 
daughter of Tyndarus, gave me birth, and the citizens 
call unhappy me Electra. Alas! alas! for my hapless 
toils and hateful life. O father, but thou indeed art 


5 T have taken Woodhull’s translation in tegen ie to transcrib- 
ing the tedious notes of Matthiz and Seidler, which the student 
will findin Dindorf’s collection. 

6 Electra addresses herself. Possibly wodds opuav may mean 
“the course of thy foot,’ i. e. of time. Xpdvov réSa was one of 
the yovina pyuara of Euripides, according to Aristoph. Ran. 100, 
Such + eee to time are common, as in Juliet’s soliloquy, Act iii. 
Sc. 2. Perhaps #pa—karakdaiovea ‘‘ thou time of woe.” 


117-171] "+ ELECTRA. 49 


lying in Hades, murdered by thy wife, and by Aigisthus, 
O Agamemnon. Come! raise the same lamentation, 
lead off the delight of many tears. Haste on the course 
of my foot,O hour; O go thou on, go on, weeping. 
Alas! for me, forme. What city,?7 what house, O un- 
happy brother, dost thou serve, leaving thy poor sister 
in her chambers amid saddest calamities resulting from 
hersire? O, mayest thou come asa releaser to wretched 
me from these toils, O Jove, Jove, and as an avenger 
to thy father of blood most hateful, having neared thy 
wandering foot to Argos. Let me put down this vessel, 
taking it off my head, that I may loudly utter gloomy 
mournings to my sire, a sounding song of Hades, for 
Hades. O father, to thee beneath the earth I utter 
lamentations, which ever day by day® I ply, gashing 
my loved neck with my nails, and striking my hand 
upon my shorn head, on account of thy death. Woe! 
woe! tear the head, and like some tuneful swan by the 
river stream calls upon her dearest sire, who has 
perished in the crafty meshes of a net, so do I mourn 
thee, my hapless sire, having been washed as to thy 
flesh with a last bath, in the most piteous bed of death. 
Alas! for me, for me, for the bitter cutting by an axe, 
O sire, and the bitter plot on thy return from Troy! 
Not with mitres nor with garlands did thy wife receive 
thee ; but having made thee® the scoff of Aigisthus 
with the two-edged sword, she obtained her cunning 
paramour. 

Cuorus. O Electra, daughter of Agamemnon, I have 
come to thy rustic home. A certain milk-drinking 
Mycenian herdsman treading the mountain has come, 
has come ; and he brings word that the Argives are 
proclaiming the third day of the feast, and all the vir- 
gins are about to make procession to Juno. 


7 Xatpevw is found with an accusative in Iph. Taur. 1115, and 
Suidas gives the same construction, but with reference to eccles- 
iastical writers. I do not feel satisfied with Dobree’s tiv’ av’ otkov 
and think that the accusative is used, as if riva méAu oixeis had 
been in the mind of the poet. Such would be the natural question, 
but Electra, considering the probably dependent state of her 
brother, uses a more emphatic word. 

8 Cf. Zisch. Choeph. 24 sqq. ®° Understand cé after 6éueva, 


5 


50 ELECTRA. «+ [172-220. 


Exec. Not for splendid doings, O friends, nor for 
golden necklaces, am wretched I elate in mind. nor 
forming dances together with Argive nymphs shall I 
beat my foot whirled round. With tears I dance, and 
tears are the daily care for wretched me. Look at my 
matted locks, and these rags of my garments,!° whether 
they become the royal daughter of Agamemnon, and 
Troy, which remembers once being taken by my sire. 

CuHor. Great is the Goddess ;4 but come, and from 
me receive ?? richly-woven robes to wear, and golden 
_ additions of ornament for thy beauty. Dost thou think, 
that, not honoring the Gods, thou wilt overcome thine 
enemies by thy tears? Not with groans, but with 
prayers, worshipping the Gods, wilt thou obtain a happy 
day, O daughter. ; 

ELEC. No one of the Gods hears the voice of [ the ] 
wretched, nor the sacrifices offered of old 18 by my sire. 
Alas! both for the dead, and for the living wanderer, 
who, I ween, dwells in some other land, wandering 
wretched to the slaves’ hearth,4 being sprung from a 
renowned sire. But I myself in a poverty-stricken 
abode am dwelling, pining away at heart, a fugitive 
from my ancestral halls, dwelling on the mountain 
rocks. And my mother dwells wedded in bloody 
nuptials to another. . 

Cuor. Helen, thy mother’s sister, has the blame of 
many ills upon the Greeks and thine house. 

Evec. Alas! O women, I cease from my lamenta- 
tions. Some strangers having a station close by ¥ the 
house rise up from their ambush. Let us escape with 
flight of foot from the evil-doing men, you indeed by 
the road-way, but I into the house. 

Or. Remain, O wretched one; fear not my hand. 

10 Cf idacpatwv Aakides. Ausch. Choeph. 34. 2 

11j,e. Juno. This isa commonformula. See Comm. on Acts xix. 
34, weyadn H*Aprepmes. : 

12 ypjoov da mutuo, xpjoa mutuo accipe. SEIDLER. 

13 Observe the double construction of cAvecv. 

14 The apparent custom with wanderers, who probably gave their 
services as menials, as an a peers for their temporary support 


and protection. Cf. Alcest. 3 
15 But read ovpeias av’ épixvas, with Musgr. Dind. 


> 7 . 


16 This seems the best way of rendering édeoriovs in this passage. 


221~242.] ELECTRA. 51 


ELEc. O Phoebus Apollo! I fall on thy knees that I 
may not die. 

Or. I would fain slay others more hateful than thou. 

Etec. Away! touch not what thou shouldst not ° 
touch. 

Or. There is not one whom I could more rightly touch. 

ELEc. And wherefore, sword in hand, dost thou lie 
in ambush for me? 

Or. Tarry and listen, and perhaps thou wilt not say 
otherwise.!’ 

Exec. I stand, and am altogether thine, for thou art 
the more powerful, 

Or. Iam come, bearing thee words from thy brother. 

ELeEc. O dearest one, is it of him living or dead ? 

Or. He lives; I fain would first tell thee the good 
news. 

Evec. Mayest thou be blest, as a reward for most 
pleasant words. 

Or. I give this in common for both of us to possess. 

ELEec. Where on earth is the wretched one enduring 
a wretched banishment? 

Ox. He #8 is wandering, not respecting the law of one 
city. 

Exec. Ay, perhaps in want of daily sustenance. 

Or. He possesses it indeed, but is weak as an exiled 
man. 
‘ ELEc. But what message comest thou bearing from 

im? 

Or. Whether thou art alive, and, living, what for- 
tunes thou hast. 

Exec. Dost thou not first see how dried up is my 
frame? 

Or. Ay, wasted away with grief, so that I utter 
a groan. 

Pci And my head, and locks savage with being 

shorn 

Or. Thy brother, and thy father’s death, I suppose, 
gnaws thee equally ? 


17 Understand 7 éyw, after tax” ovx adAws épeis. 
18 On $OepeiaGar, to wander, see Helen, 780, and Seidler. 
19j, e. not having a fixed abode in any city. 


52 ELECTRA. [243-266. 


Etec. Alas! for what is dearer to me than these ? 

Or. Alas! alas! how indeed art thou thought of by 
thy brother ! 

ELEC. He being absent, not present, is dear to me. 

Or. But through what dost thou dwell here, far away 
from the city ? 

Exec. I have wedded, O stranger, a deadly wedding. 

Or. I grieve for your brother. [Was it] to one of 
the Mycenians ? 

ELec. Not in such wise as my father at some time 
expected to bestow me. 

Or. Tell me, that having heard I may tell your 
brother. 

ELEc. Far off from him, I dwell in this abode. 

Or. Some husbandman or neatherd is worthy of such 
a dwelling. 

ELeEc. A man poor, noble, and pious toward me. 

Or. But what piety is present to thine husband ? 

ELEC. He has never ventured to approach my bed. 

Or. Having some divine feeling of chastity, or dis- 
daining thee ? 

E.ec. He did not think himself worthy to disgrace 
my parents. 

Or. And how was he not delighted on receiving such 
a match ? 

ELEc. He thinks, O stranger, that he who gave me 
had no right [to do so ].” 

Or. I understand, lest he should at some time pay 
the penalty to Orestes. 

ELEc. Fearing this very thing. Besides, he is by na- 
ture chaste. 

Or. Alas! thou speakest of a noble fellow, and one 
that must be well treated. 

Etec. Ay, if he who now is absent shall ever return 
to his home. 

Or. But did the mother, who bore thee, suffer this ? 

ELEC. Women, O stranger, are friends to men, not to 
children. . 

Or. But on what account did Agisthus offer thee 
this insult ? 


20 Of, Iph. Aul. 703, Zevs nyyvnoe, cat didwo" 6 K¥ptos, SEIDLER. 


267-289.] ELECTRA. 53 


ELEC. He wished me to bring forth a weak race, hav- 
ing given me to such a man. 

Or. That, forsooth, you might not bring forth chil- 
dren as avengers ? 

ELEc. Such things he planned, for which may he pay 
me the penalty. 

Or. But does thy mother’s husband know thou art 
[ still] a virgin ? , 

ELEC. He does not know; we have kept this from 
him in silence. 

Or. Are these who overhear our words friends to thee? 

ELEc. Ay, so as to well conceal my words and thine. 

Or. What could Orestes do, if he should come to this 
Argos? 

ELEC. Dost thou ask this? <A foul thing thou sayest, 
for is it not now the crisis? 

Or. But on his arrival how might he slay the mur- 
derers of his father? 

ELEC. By daring such things as were dared against 
his father by his enemies. 

Or. And .wouldst thou endure to slay thy mother 
with him? 

Exec. Ay, with the same axe by which my father 
perished. 

Or. Shall tellI these things to him, and is thy resolu- 
tion firm ? 

ELEC. Oh might I die, having shed the blood of my 
mother. ‘ 

Or. Alas! would that Orestes were near to hear this. 

ELec. But, O stranger, I should not know hin, if I 
saw him. 

Or. It is no wonder; for being young, thou wast 
separated from him while young. 

ELEC. One only of my friends would know him. 

Or. What, he who they say stole him away from 
death ? 

ELEc. Ay, the old man, the former pedagogue of my 
father. 

Or. And has thy dead father obtained a tomb ? 

ELEc. Cast out of the house, he has obtained what 
he has obtained. 

5* 


54 ELECTRA. [290-333- 


Or. Alas! What is this thou sayest? For the per- 
ception even of out-door evils pains mortals. But speak, 
that knowing, I may bear to thy brother unpleasant 
words indeed, but needful to hear. For there is a feel- 
ing of pity, not at allin the untaught, but in the wise 
of mankind; for it is not even free from harm that a 
too wise cleverness is in the wise. 

Cuor. And I have the same longing at heart as this 
man. For being far from the city, I know not the ills 
in the city ; but now I also wish to learn. 

Exec. I will speak, if it behooves me. And it be- 
hooves me to tell to a friend the heavy fortunes of me 
and my father. Butsince thou hast stirred the subject, 
I beseech thee, O stranger, to tell Orestes my ills and 
his. First, indeed, in what garments I live, and with 
what filth Iam weighed down, and under what a roof 
I dwell, after a royal house; I myself laboring mine 
own garments with the shuttle, or I should have my 
body naked and be destitute; and myself bearing the 
river stream, without a feast at holy rites,and deprived 
of the dance; and being a virgin, I am denied the 
rights of women, denied [ the bed of ] Castor, to whom, 
being of my family, they affianced me, before he went 
among the Gods. But my mother sits on a throne, 
amid Phrygian spoils, and by her seat the Asiatic cap- 
tives, whom my father took, are standing with their 
Idzean robes bound with golden clasps. And my father’s 
black blood still putrifies in the house; but.he that 
slew him, mounting the same chariot as my sire, goes 
forth, and is puffed up, holding in his blood-stained 
hands the sceptre, with which he ruled the Greeks. 
But the dishonored tomb of Agamemnon has never re- 
ceived libations nor a bough of myrtle ; but the funeral 
pile is barren 2! of adornments. And the famous spouse 
(as they call him) of my mother, steeped in drunken- 
ness, leaps on the tomb, and with stones defaces the 
stone monument of my sire, and dares to utter this 
saying against us: ‘‘ Where is the boy Orestes? Will 
he, being present, honorably defend thy tomb?” Thus 


21 yépaos is here an adjective— é¢pnuos, xnpevovoa, So xépaovs raidas 
for virgins in Soph. Géd. Tyr. 1501. BARNEs. 


334-360.] ELECTRA. 55 


is he mockedin his absence. But, O stranger, I beseech 
thee, tell this news. For many things are they, that 
lay this charge upon me, but I [am ] their interpreter, 
my hands, my tongue, and wretched mind, and my 
shorn hair, and his father. For base is it, if my father 
indeed captured Troy, but he, being one, is unable to 
slay one man, being a youth, and of a better sire. 

‘Cuor. And truly I perceive this person (I mean your 
Aiea approaching the house, having ceased from 
abor. ; 

Pra. Hah! who are these strangers I see at the gate ? 
And for what reason have they come near this rustic 
door? Isitin want of myself? surely it is unseemly 
for a woman to be standing with young men. 

Evec. O dearest one, do not fall into a suspicion of 
me. But thou shalt know the real story; for these 
strangers are come to me as heralds of the words of 
ao ai And do ye, O strangers, excuse what has been 
said. 

PEA. What say they? Is the man alive, and does he 
behold the light ? 

ELEC. He is, at least by report. And they say things 
not discredited by me. 

PEA. Does he at all remember the ills of thy father 
and of thee? 

E.ec. These matters are in [my hopes]. Weak is an 
exiled man. 

PEA. But what words did they come telling from 
Orestes ? 

ELEC. He has sent these men as spectators of my 
woes. 

Pra. Some then they see, and others I suppose thou 
tellest. 

Shao They know [fall] ; they have no deficiency of 
these. 

Pea. Long ago then should the doors have been 
opened to them. Go into the house; for ye shall ob- 
tain in return for your good news a hospitable recep- 
tion in such things as my house contains. Take the 
baggage within the house, ye followers, and make no 
denial, having come as friends from a friend. For 


56 ELECTRA. [361-399. 


though Iam born poor, I will never show a base-born 
disposition. 

OR. By the Gods, is this the man, who joins in con- 
cealing your nuptials, not desiring to disgrace Orestes ? 

ELec. This man iscalled the husband of wretched me. 

Or. Alas! there isno certain mark of manliness ; for 
the natures of mortals exhibit a confusion. For al- 
ready have I seen a man who was naught sprung from 
a noble sire, and good children [sprung] from bad 
[fathers], and hunger in the spirit of a rich man, and 
a great mind in a poor body. How then will any one, 
distinguishing, judge aright? By wealth? Then he 
will make use of an unjust judge. Or by those who 
have nothing? But poverty possesses [this] disease ; 
through want it teaches a man evil. But shall I turn 
to [the consideration of]arms? But who, looking to the 
spear, could testify what person is good? It is best to 
leave these things to take their own course. For this 
man being neither great among the Argives, nor, on the 
other hand, puffed up with the reputation of his house, 
and being among the multitude, has been found most 
excellent. Will ye not be wise, who wander full of 
vain opinions ? and by association and manners judge 
of the well-born among mortals. For such men as 
these well administer cities and houses ; but flesh, des- 
titute of sense, are the ornament of the forum. For 
neither does the stronger arm better abide the spear 
than the weak; but this is in nature and in valor. 
But,—whether present or not present, the son of Aga- 
memnon, for whose sake we are come, is worthy,—let 
us accept the hospitality of this house. We must go 
within this dwelling, servants. For I would rather 
have a willing, though poor host, than a rich one [un- 
willing]. Itherefore accept this man’s reception into his 
house. But I would have wished that your brother pros- 
pering could have led me into prospering abodes. But 
perchance he may come ; for the oracles of Loxias are 
firm, but to the divination of men I bid adieu. 

CHor. Now, more than before, O Electra. we are 
warmed at heart with joy; for perhaps, though slowly 
progressing, fortune may [at length] settle well. 


400-436.] ELECTRA. 57 


EvEc. O hapless one, knowing the scantiness of thine 
house, why hast thou received these strangers superior 
to thee ? 

Pra. But what? If they are, as they seem to be, 
noble, will they not be equally content with little or 
not ??2 

ELEC. Since then you, being in scant circumstances, 
have fallen into this mistake, go to the aged guardian 
of my dear father, who, around the river Tanaus,” that 
divides the confines of the Argive territory and the 
Spartan land, tends his flocks, having been cast out 
from the city. And bid him, having come homeward, 
to go and furnish something as a banquet for the 
strangers. He will be delighted, and will offer prayers 
to the Gods, when he hears that the boy is living whom 
he once saved. For.we shall not obtain any thing from 
my mother out of my ancestral house, and we should 
be telling bitter news, should the wretched woman 
learn that Orestes is alive. 

Pra. But, if it seems thus to thee, I will bear this 
message to the old man. But go thou into the house as 
quickly as possible, and make ready the matters within. 
A woman indeed, if willing, can find many things to 
bring for a banquet. And there is even now so much 
at home, soas to satisfy these men with food for one 
day at least. But when my mind falls upon this sub- 
ject, [consider how great a power wealth has, both to 
bestow on strangers, and by expense to preserve one’s 
body when fallen into sickness ; but for one’s daily food 
it comes to little. For every man once filled, rich or 
poor, bears an equality. 

CHor. Ye renowned ships, which once on a time 
came to Troy with numberless oars, leading the 
dance with the daughters of Nereus, where the flute- 
loving dolphin leaped, whirled around the prows 
with dark blue beaks, escorting the son of Thetis, 
Achilles, light as to the leaping of his feet, with Aga- 


22 Cf. Virg. Ain. viii. 364, ‘‘ Aude, hospes, contemnere opes : et te 
quoque dignum Finge deo: rebusque veni non asper egenis.”’ 

23Or Tanos. It flows down from the mountain Parnon, through 
the Argive territory, into the Gulf of Thyrea. 


58 ELECTRA. ' (437-481. 


memnon, to the Trojan shores of Simois. And the 
daughters of Nereus, quitting the Eubcean strand, bore 
the toils of shield [and] arms [forged] on the golden 
anvils of Vulcan, both over Pelion, and over the sacred 
groves of Ossa’s height, the nymph-dwelt summits + 
sought the virgins,+?®° where the equestrian sire? 
trained up the marine son of Thetis, a light for Greece, 
Achilles, swift of foot, for the Atridze. And I have 
heard from some one, who came from Troy to the 
Nauplian ports, that in the circle of thy renowned 
shield, O son of Thetis, such effigies as these, Phrygian 
terrors,?"_ were sculptured. On the circumference, 
indeed, of the shield, Perseus, [raised] above** the sea 
with winged slippers, was holding the throat-cut terror 
of the Gorgon, with Hermes, the messenger of Jove, the 
rustic?® son of Maia. But in the midst of the shield the 
radiant circle of the sun shone with his winged steeds, 
and the ethereal dances of the stars,®° the Pleiades, 
Hyades, terrible 1 to the eyes of Hector. But upon 
the golden-wrought crest Sphinxes were bearing their 
song-obtained prey in their claws. And on his cuirass 
the fiery lioness 82 was hastening in course paver) the 
Pirenian horse ® with her hoofs having beheld it. But 
in a bloody fight four horses were rushing along, and 
round their backs the black dust went forth. The king 
of such spear-laboring men didst thou slay, thy hus- 
band, O evil-minded daughter of Tyndarus. Wherefore 
the powers of heaven will send thee down to death, and 
yet, yet shall I behold the blood poured out by the 
sword beneath thy gore-streaming neck. 

24 Seidler quotes Suidas, mpvuvar, ai axpar, 

25 This is thoroughly corrupt. See Seidler’s note. 

26j. e. Peleus. 

27 Although ée{uara may with propriety refer to the images of the 
Gorgon, yet it was not a Phrygian wonder, nor does the term 
apply to the rest of the description. I think Euripides wrote 
deiynara, images. 

28 Understand aep6évra, 

29 Because educated in Arcadia. See Seidler. 

30 See my note on Aisch. Ag. 4. The reader may compare II. =. 
486 sqq. with Virg. Ain. i. 348; iii. 516 ; Georg, i. 188. 

31 Literally, ‘‘ putting to flight.” 

2 The Chimera. 

32 Pegasus. 


482-522,] ELECTRA. 59 


OLp Man. Where, where is my youthful, honored 
mistress, the daughter of Agamemnon, whom once I 
nurtured? How steep an approach it is to these dwell- 
ings for me, a wrinkled old man, to draw nigh with 
my foot! But nevertheless I must needs drag on my 
bent spine and crooked knee. O daughter, (for I but 
just now behold thee near the house,) I am come bear- 
ing to thee this young offspring of my fold, having 
taken it from the flocks, and garlands, and cheese 
which I have taken out of the presses, and this old 
store of Bacchus, redolent of fragrance, little indeed, 
but still ’tis sweet to pour a cup of this into a weaker 
draught. Let some one go and bear these into the 
house for the strangers. But I, having bedewed mine 
eyes with tears, would fain wipe them away with this 
my tattered garment. 

ELEc. But wherefore, O aged man, hast thou thine 
eye thus wet? Have mine afflictions after a long in- 
terval awakened thy remembrance? Or dost thou be- 
moan the unhappy exile of Orestes, and my sire, whom 
once holding in thine arms, thou didst in vain nurture 
for theeand thy friends? 

Ou_p M. In vain. But nevertheless this at least I 
could not refrain from.*® For I came to his tomb, 
aside from the road, and falling down, I wept, having 
met with solitude, and I poured out libations, having 
opened the skin which I bear for the strangers, and 
set myrtle garlands around the tomb. But upon the 
pile itself I saw the victim, a sable-fleeced sheep, and 
the blood but lately shed, and shorn locks of auburn 
hair. And I marvelled, O daughter, whoever of men 
had dared to come to the tomb; for it certainly was 
none of the Argives. But perchance, I think, thy 
brother has come privily, and on his coming has hon- 
ored the miserable tomb of his sire. And do thou ex- 
amine the hair, placing it against thy hair, whether 
the tint of the shorn tresses is the same. For in those 
who have the same father’s blood, most parts of the 
body are wont to. be naturally alike. 

34 Recall the old reading oredavovs, with Heath, Dind. zeAdvous 


is Jacob’s conjecture. 
5° Referring to what immediately follows. 


60 ELECTRA, [523-555- 


ELEC. Thou speakest words unworthy of a wise man, 
O aged one, if thou thinkest that my very bold brother 
would come by stealth into this land through fear of 
AXgisthus. Then how will the lock of hair® agree, 
the one belonging to a well-born man brought up in 
wrestling exercises, but the other to a female [brought 
up] amidst wool-combing ? Itisimpossible. And thou 
wilt find similar hair among many persons, though 
not sprung from the same blood, old man. 

OLD M. But do thou, stepping in his track,” consider 
the print of his slipper, whether it is of the same meas- 
ure with thy foot, O child. 

ELEc. But how could there be an impression of feet 
upon the stony surface of the ground? And if it were 
so, the foot of a brother and sister would not be equal, 
of a man and woman ; but the male prevails. 

OLD M. Is there no [evidence], by which, supposing 
your brother to have come to the land, you might dis- 
cern the woof of thy shuttle,® in which I once con- 
cealed him, lest he should die. 

ELEC, Knowest thou'not, when Orestes was banished 
from the land, that I was a mere child? But if I did 
weave the vest, how would he, being then a child, be 
now wearing the same garments, unless the robes grew 
along with the body? But either some stranger, pity- 
ing his [undecked] tomb, or some one of this land, 
obtaining [the opportunity of] darkness, has shorn his 
own hair. 

OLD M. But where are the strangers? for I wish to 
see, and ask them concerning thy brother. 

ELEc. Hither with quick step they are coming out 
from the house. 

OLD M. And they are noble indeed, but this is super- 
ficial ; for many born noble, are base ; but neverthe- 
less I say to the strangers, hail. 

Or. Hail thou! O aged man. Of what friend is this 
man the ancient relic, Electra? 

ELEc. He nurtured my sire, O stranger. 


36 This is a sly hit at Aschylus. Cf. Choeph. 187 sqq. 
57 Cf. Choeph. 205 sqq. %8 Choeph. 2388 sqq. 


556-577-] ELECTRA. 61 


Or. What sayest thou? Was this he who privily 
removed thy brother? 

ELEc. This is he who saved him, if he indeed is yet 
in being. 

Or. Ah! why has he gazed on me, as though view- 
ing a clear stamp of silver? Does he liken me to any 
one? 

ELEC. Perchance he is pleased at looking on thee, a 
compeer of Orestes. 

Or. Ay, of a well-loved man ; but wherefore does he 
turn his step around me? 

ELec. I too marvel as I behold this, O stranger. 

OLtp M. O revered daughter Electra, adore the 
deities. 

ELEC. In respect of what things absent or present ? 

OLD M. For holding the cherished treasure, which a 
God shows thee. 

ELEC. Lo! I call upon the Gods. Or what dost thou 
mean indeed, old man? 

pos M. Look then upon this most beloved one, O 
child. 

ELEc. Long since I fear lest thou art no longer in 
thy right senses. 

OLp M. Am I not in my right senses, beholding thy 


- brother? 


ELEC. How sayest thou this incredible saying, O 
aged man? 

OLD M. That in this man I see Orestes, the son of 
Agamemnon. 

ELEC. Perceiving what indication, by which I may 
be persuaded ? 

OLD M. A scar near upon his forehead, by which 
once in his father’s house he, falling, was stained with 
blood, pursuing with thee a hind. 

ELEC. How sayest thou? Isee indeed the evidence 
of the fall. 

OLD M. And then dost thou delay to fall upon those 
most dear? 

ELEC. But no longer so, O aged man; for in mind I 
am persuaded by thy proofs. O thou who appearest 
after a long season, unexpectedly I hold thee. 

6 


63 ELECTRA. [78-61 5. 


Or. Ay, and by me thou art held after a long season. 

Exec. Never did I expect it. 

Or. Nor did I hope it. 

Evec. Art thou he? 

Or. Ay, thine only ally, if indeed I can but draw up 
[successfully] the net after which Iam going. But I 
have a good trust; or it behooves one no longer to 
think that there are Gods, if unjust deeds get the ad- 
vantage of justice. 

Cuor. Thou hast come, thou hast come, O day, after 
a long time; thou hast shone out, thou hast shone forth 
a clear torch to the city, which wretched during along 
exile from an ancestral home has come. wandering. 
Some God, some God again brings on our victory. 
Uplift your hands, uplift your voice, send forth pray- 
ers to the Gods, that thy brother may enter the city 
with good fortune, with good fortune. 

Or. Be itso. I indeed have the sweet pleasure of 
embraces, but in time again we shall bestow them. 
But do thou say, O aged man, (for thou hast come in 
season,) by what doing shall I punish the murderer of 
my father, and my mother, partaker of an unholy mar- 
riage. Is there aught of friends well-disposed toward 
me? Or have I prepared all things, according to for- 
tunes? With whom shall I confederate? By night, 
or by day? By what road shall I turn against mine 
enemies ? 

Oup M. O son, to thee unhappy no one is a friend. 
For this thing is [indeed] a discovery, to share good 
and evil in common. But do thou (for thou art ut- 
terly undone from the very foundations, in respect to 
thy friends, nor hast thou left any hope) know this, 
hearing from me. In thy hand and fortune thou hast all 
the chance of recovering thy ancestral house and city. 

Or. By doing then what, shall we reach this end ? 

Oup M. By slaying the son of Thyestes and thy 
mother. 

Or. Lam come for this crown [of success], and how 
shall I obtain it ? 

OLD M. Not by going indeed within the walls, even 
if you wished. 


616-638.] ELECTRA. 63 


Or. Is he protected by the guards and their right 
hands ? 

OLp M. Thou hast hit it ; for he fears you, and sleeps 
not in certainty. 

Or. Well! do thou then henceforward advise, old 
man. 

OxLp M. And do thou hear me; for something has 
just come into my thoughts. 

Or. Mayest thou give some good advice, and I hear 
it. 

O_p M. I saw Aigisthus as I was coming slowly 
hither— 

Or. I attend to what you have said. In what place? 

OLD M. Near upon these horse-pasturing meadows. 

Or. Doing what? For I see help out of things inex- 
tricable. 

OLp M. He was preparing a banquet for the nymphs, 
as it seemed to me. 

Or. As a pavement for his son’s nurturing, or for 
future offspring ? 

OLD M. I know but one thing ; he had armed himself 
for the slaughter of a bull. 

Or. With how many companions? Or was he alone 
with his domestics ? ; 

OLD M, No Argive was present, but hisown band [of 
servants], 

Or. Is there any one who will know me, when hesees 
me, old man ? 

OLp M. Hisservants only are present, who have never 
seen thee. 

Or. But would they be friendly to us, if we prevailed ? 

OLD M. Ay, for this is peculiar to slaves, and useful 
to thee. 

Or. How, then, should I even approach him? 

OLD M. Going [to a place] where he will see thee, as 
he is sacrificing. 

Or. He is in the fields by the way itself, as it seems. 

OLD M. Ay, from whence espying thee, he will invite 
you to share his banquet. ! 

Or. In truth a bitter fellow-banqueter, if God be 
willing. 


64 ELECTRA. [639-659. 


_OLD M. Observe henceforward according to the occa- 

sion. 

Or. Wellhast thouspoken. But where is my mother? 

OLD M. At Argos ; but she will come to the drinking 
and banquet.*® 

Or. But wherefore did not my mother set out at once 
with her husband ? 

Oup M. She was left, dreading the reproach of the 
citizens. 

Or. I understand. She knows that she is suspected 
by the city. 

OLD M. So it is; for an impious woman is hated. 

Or. How then shall Islay at once both her and this 
fellow ? 

Esc. I indeed will contrive the death of my mother. 

Or. And truly fortune shall set that matter right. 

Exec. Let then this man help us, being two. 

OLD M. Thisshallbe. But how wilt thou devise death 
for thy mother? 

Exec. [Go and say thus, old man, to Clyteemnestra. ] 
Bear word that I am brought to bed in labor of a male. 

OLD M. Whether having brought forth some time 
since, or lately ? 

ELec. Ten suns ; during which the woman in labor 
is purified. 

OLD M. But what in truth does this tend to thy 
mother’s death ? 

ELEC. She will come, hen she has heard of my ohild- 
birth sickness. 

OLD M. Whence? What dost thou think she datas! 
O child? 

ELEC. Yea, and she will bemoan the dignity * of my 
offspring. 

OLD M. Perhaps so; I lead thy discourse back to the 
point of turning. 


*°9 But we must evidently correct ¢v tdxer, with Reiske. mécet 
came from the following line. If correct, wéce is here ‘‘ drink- 
ing,’’ as Barnes observes. 

40 ij, e. their fallen condition. But I think Woodhull is nearer the 
sense : 

“Yes, and weep 
To learn I am become a happy mother.” 


660-692.] ELECTRA. 65 


ELEc. It is plain that she will perish when she has 
come. 

OuLp M. And truly let her come to the very gates of 
the dwelling. 

Exec. Is it not a little thing to turn to Hades ? 41 

OLD M. Would that I might die, having sometime 
beheld this. 

Etec. Then first of all lead the way for this person, 
old man. 

OLD M. [What to] where AXgisthus is now sacrificing 
to the Gods? 

ELec. Then meeting my mother, deliver my message. 

OLp M. Ay, so that it shall seem to be spoken by thy 
own mouth. 

ELEC. “Tis thy task now. Thou are allotted first to 
begin the slaughter. 

Or. I will go, if any one will be leader of the way. 

: pg M. And in truth I will escort thee not unwill- 
ingly. 

Or. O thou ancestral Jove, putter to flight of mine 
enemies, pity us, for we have suffered pitiable things. 

Evec. Ay, pity those who are born thy descendants, 

Or. And thou, Juno, who rulest over the Mycenian 
altars, grant us the victory, if we crave just things. 

_ELec. Give indeed to us an avenging power for our 
sire. 

Or. And thou who impiously dost dwell below the 
earth, O father, [and thou queen Earth, to whom I 
stretch forth my hands,] aid, aid these thy dearest 
children. Now come, taking all the dead as allies, as 
many as with thee destroyed the Phrygians with the 
spear and as many as hate impious assassins. Hast thou 
heard, O thou that hast suffered dreadful things from 
my mother? 

Evec. Father hears all, I know; but it is time to go. 
And to thee I proclaim moreover that Agisthus must 
die. So that, if in contest thou shalt fall a deadly fall, 
Ialso am dead; nor speak of me as living; for I will 
smite my head with a two-edged sword. But going 

41 Seidler : ‘* obxody ourxpov (corti) tpamrécOar Tdde (SyAovdte & A€yers 
EIS AOMON avAas, wore eivac) EIZ ‘AIAOY. I am but half satisfied. 

6* 


66 ELECTRA, [693-7 16. 


within the dwelling, I will make ready, so that, should 
prosperous tidings of thee arrive, the whole house shall 
shout aloud; but if thou diest, the contrary of these 
things will be. I tell thee this. 

Or. I know all. 

ELec. Therefore it behooves thee to bea man. But do 
you, O women, well light up the shout of this contest.* 
But I will keep guard, carrying in my hand a ready 
spear. For never, overcome by my enemies, will I pay 
the penalty for my body to be abused. 

CHor. A report remains in the ancient traditions of 
the Argive mountains, that once on a time Pan, the 
guardian of the fields, breathing forth a sweet-sounding 
song on the well-compacted reeds, conducted from its 
tender mother a ram with beauteous fleece of gold. 
And standing on a rocky bench, a herald exclaimed, 
** To the forum, to the forum come, O Mycenians, about 
to behold prodigies, a) fearful visions of happy 
rulers.” And choirs of the sons of Atreus adorned the 
dwelling, and thé gold-decked temples #* were opened, 
and on the altars through the city the fire offered by 
the Argives blazed. And the pipe, the minister of the 
Muses, sent forth a most beauteous sound, and delight- 
ful songs increased concerning the golden lamb, as 
praises of Thyestes. For having seduced the dear 
wife of Atreus to clandestine nuptials, he bears off 


# Tlupoevere, i. q. cnuaivere, quasi hodie diceres, send me intelli- 
gence by telegraph. Dosrue. 

* Matthiee would join aradds tmd parépos, with xp. dpva mopedoat, 
making i176 = Uéx, as brd mrepovomacas. Andr. 442. Regarding the 
legend of the golden fleece, see Orest. 812 sqq. ‘‘Iph. Taur. 196. 
The following passages are important: Senec. Thyest. 224 sqq., 

Est Pelopis altis nobile in stabulis pecus, Arcanus aries, ductor 
opulenti gregis ; Hujus per omne curpus effuso coma. Dependet 
auro ; Cujuse tergo, novi Aurata reges sceptra Tantalici gerunt ; 
Possessor hujus regnat; hune tantee domus Fortuna sequitur.” 
A poet in Cicer. de N. D. iii. * Addo hue, quod mihi portento cceles- 
tum pater Prodigium misit, regni stabilimen mei; Agnum inter 
pecudes aurea clarum coma. Quondam Thyestem clepere ausum 
esse e regia: Qua in re adjutricem conjugem cepit sibi.”’ 

“4T see little difficulty in uaderstanding @vuédac as put for the 
temples themselves, a part for the whole. 

4 But read ws éort Adyos, @vécrov, with Seidl. Dind. 

4 Aérope. Cf. Serv. on Atn. xi. 262. Hygin. Fab. 86. Columna 
on Ennius, Fragm. p. 272 sq. ed. Hessel. 


717-758.] ELECTRA. 67 


the prodigy to his home, and returning to the assembly, 
he proclaims that he possessed the golden-fleeced horned 
flock in his dwelling. Then indeed, then Jove changed 
the shining paths of the stars, and the light of the Sun, 
and the white face of Morn, and to the western side he 
drives [them] with warm flames glittering from heaven 
and the damp clouds [go] toward the north, and the 
dry seats of Hammon are parched for lack of moisture, 
deprived of the fairest showers from Jove.* It is said 
(but with me, at least, it has little credit) that the 
golden-visaged sun turned away, having changed his 
warm station through a mortal misfortune, on account 
of mortal justice. But stories terrible to mortals are 
a gain for the worship of the Gods; of which thou being 
unmindful, hast slain thy husband, thou joint mother *® 
of noble children.» Hold, hold, my friends, heard yea 
noise? or has a vain opinion possessed me, like as the 
nether thundering of Jove? Behold! these sounds are 
wafted notindistinct. My mistress Electra, pass out of 
this dwelling. 

ELec. My friends, what is the matter? To what 
peril are we come? 

Cuor. I know but one thing, I hear a shriek of death. 

rece I also heard it, far off indeed, but yet [I heard 
it]. 

Cuor. Ay, for the sound comes a long distance, and 
still clear. 

E.Ec. Is it the groan of an Argive, or of my friends? 

Cuor. I know not; for all the tone of the cry is 
confused. 

ELec. Thou enjoinest this as a death to me; why do 
we hesitate? 

Cnor. Stop! that thou mayest clearly learn thy 
fortunes. 


47 AvdOev — 2x Avds, (Cf. Hel. 2, Atas Waxddos. Alcseus, Fragm. 1,) 
from the supposition that rain was sent by Jove. 
pees i. e. the Thyestean banquet, in revenge for the seduction of 
érope. 
4° Merely equivalent to yevérerpa, unless we understand, with Mus- 
ave, “ que simul procreavit, i. e. simul cum marito.” 
50 Electra and Orestes. 


68 ELECTRA. [769-790. 


ELEc. It cannot be. We are vanquished ; for where 
are the messengers ? 
ee They will come; it is no easy task to killa 

ing. 

MESSENGER. O ye victorious Mycenian virgins, I pro- 
nounce to all his friends that Orestes is victorious, and 
that the murderer of Agamemnon, Aigisthus, lies on the 
ground ; and it is meet to adore the Gods. 

ELec. And who art thou? How dost thou signify 
to me things certain ? 

MEss. Knowest thou not that thou beholdest in me 
an attendant on thy brother. 

ELEc. O dearest one, through fear indeed I had a 
difficulty in recognizing thy face; but now indeed I 
know thee. What sayest thou? Is my father’s hated 
murderer dead ? 

Mess. He is dead; I tell thee twice, what thou in- 
deed wishest. 

Cuor. O Gods, and Justice, that beholdest all things, 
thou hast come at last. 

ELEc. But in what manner and by what system of 
slaughter he slew the son of Thyestes I desire to learn. 

Mess. After we had withdrawn our footsteps from 
these dwellings, we entered upon a dividing wagon-road, 
where was the renowned king of the Mycenians. And 
he chanced to be walking in his well-watered gardens, 
cropping for his head branches of tender myrtle. And 
on seeing us, he cries out: O strangers, who are ye? 
Whence come ye, and of what land are ye?” And 
Orestes replied : ‘‘ We are Thessalians, and are come to 
Alpheus in order to sacrifice to Olympian Jove.” And 
AXgisthus, hearing this, speaks thus: ‘*‘ Now indeed 
ye must be as my hearth-sharers in the feast ; for I hap- 
pen to be sacrificing a bull to the Nymphs; but having 
risen in the morning from bed ye will go the same 
way.*! But let us go within the house.” And, thus 
saying, he took us by the hand, and led us on; nor was 
it right to refuse. But when we were within the house, 
he speaks thus: ‘‘ Let some one with all speed bring 

51 The sense is, ‘‘ you will come to the same thing,” i. e. you will 
not be hindered on your way. 


791-826.] ELECTRA. 69 


lavers for the guests, that they may stand round the 
altar near the lustral vessels.” But Orestes answered : 
‘* We are but lately purified in pure baths from river 
streams. But if it befit strangers to join with the citi- 
zens in sacrifice we are ready, king Aigisthus, and re- 
fuse not.” This conference then they both broke off 
in the middle ; and the servants, having laid down the 
spears, the protection of their master, all set their hands 
to work. Some bore a vessel to catch the blood ; others 
uplifted the canisters; others kindled the fire, and 
placed the caldrons round the hearth ; and the whole 
roof echoed. But the partner of thy mother’s bed, tak- 
ing the salted cakes, cast them on the altar, speakin 

such words as these : ‘‘ Ye Nymphs of the rock, larantl 
that I may often sacrifice a bull, as also my wife within 
the house, the daughter of Tyndarus, faring as we do 
now; but that my enemies [may fare] ill ’—meaning 
Orestes and thee. But my master prayed the opposite— 
not speaking aloud—that he might recover his ancestral 
home. And Atigisthus, taking a straight knife out of 
the canister, cut off [some of] the bullock’s hair, and 
placed it on the pure flame with his right hand; then 
he slew the bullock on the shoulders of the servants, 
as they lifted it with their hands, and speaks thus to 
thy brother: ‘*They boast that this is among the 
noble deeds of the Thessalians, to dissect a bull skilfully, 
and to rein in horses. Take the steel, O stranger, and 
prove that the report concerning the Thessalians is 
true.” But he having seized in his hands the well- 
wrought Doric blade, stripping off the well-fastened 
robe from his shoulders, took Pylades, indeed,as an 
assistant in the toil, and pushed away the domestics. 
Then seizing the foot of the bullock, he laid bare the 
white flesh, stretching out his hand,and more quickly 
stripped off the skin than a horse courser could finish 
twice twelve hundred paces, and he opened the flank. 
And Agisthus, taking the entrails in his hands, exam- 
ined them. But the lobe was not in the entrails; 
and the entrance [of the liver] and the receptacle of the 
bile denoted evil attacks upon the searcher. And he 


4 
52 See Barnes. 


70 ELECTRA. [827-866. 


indeed knit his brow ; but my master asked, ‘‘ Where- 
fore art thou sad, O stranger?” [He replied]: ‘‘I fear 
some foreign plot; for the son of Agamemnon is most 
detested, and is hostile tomine house.” But he replied : 
‘* Dost thou dread the stratagem of a wanderer, being 
ruler over the city? Will not some one exchange for 
us a Phthian chopper * instead of a Dorian, that we 
may celebrate the banquet of inspection? I will 
cleave open the breast.” ® Then holding he cleaves it ; 
and Agisthus, taking the entrails, contemplated them, 
having separated them. But as he stooped down, thy 
brother, standing on tip-toe, smote him on the spine, 
and broke the joints of his back. And allhis body was 
convulsed up and, down, and he howled, dying with dif- 
ficulty from the death-blow. But when the servants 
beheld it, they forthwith rushed to arms, being many 
to fight against two; but through their valor Pylades 
and Orestes stood brandishing their weapons before their 
faces. And he (Orestes) said: ‘‘I am not come as 
an enemy to this city, nor to my subjects, but I, the 
hapless Orestes, have avenged myself on the murderer 
of my sire. Slay me not then, ye ancient domestics of 
my sire.” But they, after they heard his words, re- 
strained their spears; he was recognized by some aged 
veteran in the house. And straightway they crown the 
head of thy brother, rejoicing, shouting. And he comes 
to thee to show the head, not bearing that of the Gor- 
gon, but of him thou hatest, Aigisthus. But blood 
for blood has come upon him, who now dies, as the 
bitter payment for a, debt. 

Cuor. Place thy step for a dance, O dear one, like a 
fawn, with delight lightly moving its bounding aloft. 
Thy brother conquers.” having accomplished a garland- 
bearing better than by the streams of Alpheus. But 
chant a strain of victory for my dance. 

Exec. O light, O splendor of the four-horsed sun, O 


58 Because Orestes pretended to be a Thessalian. 

54 With mevorepiavy understand Ooivnv or bvoiav. 

55 Called a tortoise from its similar shape. REISKE. 
56 j.e. of the breast, the heart. lungs, etc. 

57 Tread vxa with Canter, Musgr., Dind. 


$57-902.] ELECTRA. 71 


earth, and night, which I before beheld, now mine eye 
and ye folds ib heaven ]® now free since Aigisthus, my 
father’s murderer, has fallen. Come, I must bring out 
whatever ornaments for the hair I [possess] © and my 
dwellings conceal, O friends, and I will crown the head 
of my victorious brother. 

CuHor. Do you then bring forth ornaments for the 
head ; but on our part the dance loved by the Muses 
shall proceed. Now our former well-beloved kings rule 
our land, having justly put down the unjust; and let a 
shout go forth, attuned to joy. 

Evec. Othou with a glorious victory, born ofa sire vic- 
torious in the war under Troy, Orestes, receive fillets for 
the locks of thine hair. For thouart come to thy home, 
not as having run an useless contest of six plethra,® but 
having slain the enemy AXgisthus, who destroyed thine 
and my sire. And do thou, Pylades, a shield compan- 
ion, [and] nursling of a most pious man,® receive a 
garland from my hand; for thou too bearest an equal 
share of the contest with this man ; and may ye ever 
appear to me fortunate. 

Or. Think in the first place, Electra, that the Gods | 
are the leaders of this fortune, and then commend me, 
the minister of the Gods and of fortune. ForIlamcome, 
having slain Aigisthus not in word, but in deed; and 
to give any one the power of knowing this clearly, I 
bring the dead himself to thee; whom, if thou wilt, 
expose asa prey to wild beasts, or, fixing to a stake, stick 
him down, a booty for birds, the children of the sky. 
For he is now thy slave, having before been called thy 
master. \ 

ELEc. Tam ashamed, yet wish to speak. 

OR. What is it, speak; since thou art far off from 
fear. i 

ELEc. [I fear] to insult the dead, lest some one smite 
me with invidiousness. 

58]. e. her former misery. 

5° This is but harsh, and Reiske’s aumvoa is very eiegant. How- 
ever, Euripides is very fond of the other expression. 

6° Read xy for ay with Canter, Dindorf. 


61 j. e. a stadium — a furlong. . 
62 Strophius, the Phocian. maiSevya = rats. 


72 ELECTRA. 1903-942. 


Or. There is no one who could blame thee. 

ELEC. Our city is hard to please, and fond of slander. 

Or. Speak, if thou desirest, sister ; for we have en- 
tered upon enmity with this person upon terms that 
admit of no treaty. 

Exec. (to the corpse of Atgisthus) Well then, what 
beginning of reproaches shall Iaddress tothee? What 
end? what middle discourse shall I draw out? And 
truly from the dawn I never ceased muttering what I 
wished to say to thy face, had I indeed been free from 
my former fears. Now then Iam so; and I will repay 
thee those words of ill which I would have said to thee 
living. Thou didst destroy me, and, naught injured, 
didst make me and this man bereft of a dear father, 
and didst shamefully marry my mother, and murder 
her husband, the leader of the Grecian army, not hav- 
ing [thyself] gone against the Phrygians. And to 
such an extent of folly didst thou come, that thou didst 
hope to find my mother not wicked toward thee, but 
thou didst injure my father’sbed. Butleta man know, 
when after having corrupted a man’s wife with secret 
nuptials, he is subsequently compelled to take her, that 
he is a wretched being, if he thinks that she in the one 
case will be unmindful of chastity, but will be mindful 
of it with him. And most miserably didst thou live, 
not thinking to live ill; for thou knewest indeed that 
thou hadst made an unholy marriage, and my mother 
fener] that she in thee possessed an impious husband. 

ut being an evil pair, ye obtained your fortune, she 
thine evil one, and thou hers. And among all the Ar- 
gives thou didst hear such words as these: ‘‘ See that 
woman’s slave,” not ‘‘ the husband’s wife.’ Butsurely 
this is base, for the woman, not the man, to rule the 
household ; and I loathe those children, whoare named 
in the city not from the male sire, but from the mother. 
For when a man marries a conspicuous and superior 
match, of the man there is no account, but of the wo- 
man. Which thing has most deceived thee, not know- 
ing it. Thou didst boast to be somebody, relying on 
thy wealth ; but wealth is naught, except to tarry with 
us fora little time. But nature is stable ; not money: 


943-971.] ELECTRA. Be fe 


since the one ever remaining uplifts her head; but 
wealth unjust, and dwelling with the foolish, is wont 
to flit from the house, having flourished for a short sea- 
son. But forthe matters regarding women I am silent ; 
for it is not seemly for a virgin to es [ of them ], and 
knowingly I will but hint. Thou didst wanton, as pos- 
sessing, forsooth, a regal palace, and as being firm in 
beauty. But may my husband be he, who has not the 
face of a virgin, but of manly manner. For their chil- 
dren depend on Mars; but mere prettiness is an orna- 
ment only in thedance. Perdition seize thee, ignorant 
of all; for which, in time detected, thou hast paid the 
penalty, being thus an evil-doer. Let not a man, if he 
run the first course well, think he will win the victory, 
ge he comes nigh the line, and turns the end of 
ife. 

CuHor. He has done dreadful deeds, and a dreadful 
retribution has he paid to thee and this man. For a 
mighty strength does justice possess. . 

Or. Be itso. It behooves you, servants, to bear the 
body of this man within, and to give it to darkness, 
that when my mother comes, she may not see the corse 
before [ her own ] death. 

: ELEc. Stop! Let us throw ourselves upon another 
opic. 

presathtc isan dost thou see auxiliary troops from My- 
cenze 

ELEC. No, but the mother, who gave me birth. 

OR. Opportunely indeed, she comes into the midst o 
the snare. 

— And truly she is brilliant in her chariot and 
robes. 

Or. What then shall we do? shall we murder our 
mother? 

ELEC. Does pity possess thee, as soon as thou seest 
thy mother’s person ? 

Or. Alas! for how shall I slay her, who bore and 
nourished me ? 

Etec. Like as she destroyed thy sire and mine. 

; eH O Pheebus, much folly indeed hast thou prophe- 
sied— 

7 


74 ELECTRA, [972-1003. 


ELEC. But where Apollo is foolish, who are wise ? 

Or. Who hast bidden me to slay my mother, whom 
it is not fitting. 

ExLEc. But in what art thou harmed, avenging thy 
father ? . 

Or. Having been then ® pure, I shall now be accused 
of my mother’s murder. 

_ Evec. Ay, and not avenging thy father, thou wilt be 

impious. 

a oe But I shall pay to my mother the penalty of 
eath. 

ELEC. But to whom, on the other hand, shouldst thou 
abandon the avenging of thy sire? 

" gs Did not some demon, likened to the God, enjoin 
nat 

ELEC. What, sitting on the sacred tripod? I opine not. 

Or. I can not be persuaded that this was a genuine 
response. 

ELEC. Thou shalt not through cowardice fall into un- 
manliness. 

: ag Shall I then contrive the same artifice against 
er 

ELEc. Ay, by which thou also didst destroy her hus- 
band Aigisthus, having slain him. 

Or. I will enter in; but Iam beginning a dreadful at- 
tempt. Ay, and I shall do dreadful things; but if this 
seems fit to the Gods, let it be; but the contest is for 
me [at once] bitter and sweet. 

‘CHOoR. Ho! thou royal lady of the land of Argos, 
daughter of Tyndarus, and sister of the twin noble sons 
of Jove, who inhabit the flaming ether, amid the stars, 
having honors from mortals as protectors amidst the 
waves of the sea. Hail! I reverence you equally with 
the Gods, because of your wealth and great happiness. 
And it is now the season for thy fortunes, O queen, to 
be respected by all. 

CLy. Descend from the chariot, ye Trojan damsels, 
and lay hold of my hand, that I may place my foot out- 
side this car. For the houses indeed of the Gods are 
adorned with Phrygian spoils; but I possess in my 

68 Viz. when I was ordered to slay her. 


1004-1037.] ELECTRA. 75 


house these, chosen from the Trojan land, in place of 
the daughter whom I lost, a small but honorable gift. 

ELeEc. Shall I not then, O mother, (forI ama slave 
cast out of my ancestral home and inhabit an unhappy 
dwelling.) take hold of thy happy hand? 

Cry. These slaves are present. Do not thou labor for 
me? 

ELEC. What, hast thou not dislodged me, in truth, as 
a slave from the house? for when mine house was 
taken, I was taken, like as these women, being left des- 
titute of a father. 

CLy. Such plans indeed did thy sire devise against 
those friends against whom it least behooved him. 
But I will speak, although, when a wrong opinion pos- 
sesses a woman, there is a certain bitterness upon her 
tongue, (as indeed is the case with us,) not fitly indeed ; 
but it is just that we hate, when we have learned the 
matter, if indeed one has right grounds for hating. 
But if not, why should one hate? Now Tyndarus be- 
stowed me on thy sire, not that Inor my children should 
perish. But that man, having persuaded my daughter 
by the [pretended] nuptials of Achilles, went from 
home leading her from the ship-receiving Aulis, where 
stretching her above the pile, he cut through the fair 
cheek of Iphigenia. Now if, to prevent the capture of 
a city, or to benefit his house, and save his other chil- 
dren, he had slain one on behalf of many, it would have 
been pardonable ; but now because Helen was a wanton, 
and he who had recovered her knew not how to chastise 
a traitorous wife, on this account he (Agamemnon) de- 
stroyed my child. At this, then, although injured, I 
was not rendered savage, nor would I have slain my 
husband. But he came to me bringing a raving God- 
possessed girl, and introduced her to his bed, and would 
have had two wives at once in the same dwelling. 
Now women are foolish, I will not deny it; but when 
this being the case, a husband errs, by neglecting the 
' bed in his home, a wife is wont to imitate her husband, 
and possess another love. And then the blame shines 
forth upon us; but the men, who are the cause of this, 
are in no bad repute. But if Menelaus had been privily 


76 ELECTRA. [1038~1076. 


carried off from home, must I needs have slain Orestes, 
that I might preserve Menelaus my sister’s husband ? 
And how would thy sire have tolerated this? Was it 
then right that he indeed should not die, having slain 
my [children], but that I should suffer at his hands? 
Islew him; I turned myself the way that lay open to 
his enemies. For who of you father’s friends would 
have shared the deed with me? Say, if thou desirest 
aught, and lay down with freedom, on the other side, 
that thy father died not justly. 

Exec. Thou hast spoken justly ; but even justice has 
something of disgrace ; for it behooves a woman who 
is in her senses to yield to her husband in all things. 
But if this seems not so, neither does it come into the 
account of my words. Remember, mother, the last 
words thou didst say, in permitting me to speak to thee 
with freedom. 

Cry. Ay, and I say so now, and deny not, child. 

ExEc. But wilt thou, O mother, treat me ill, when 
thou hast heard ? 

CLy. Not so; but I will add what is pleasant to thy 
feelings. 

ELEc. I will speak then ; and this is the beginning of 
my prelude. Would that, O mother, thou hadst pos- 
sessed a wiser mind. For the form indeed both of Helen 
and thee is worthy to bear commendation ; but ye were 
born twin sisters, both wanton, and not worthy of Cas- 
tor. For she indeed being carried off, willingly was 
lost ; but thou hast destroyed the best man of Greece, 
alleging a pretence, that thou didst slay thy husband on 
thy child’s account (for they know not well the facts, 
as I do) ; thou who, before the sacrifice of thy daughter 
was completed, and when thy husband had but lately 
set out from home, didst adorn the auburn tresses of 
thine hair before a mirror. Buta woman who, while 
her husband is absent from home, decks herself out for 
beauty, writes herself down as evil. For it behooves her 
to show not at all her fair face out of doors, unless she 
isseeking some wickedness. But I know that thou alone 
of all the Grecian women didst rejoice, if the Trojan 
affairs prospered ; but, if they had the worst, that thou 


1077-1115.] ELECTRA. 17 


didst wear a clouded look, not wishing Agamemnon to 
return from Troy. And yet there were good reasons 
for thee to be chaste. Thou hast a husband not worse 
than Aigisthus, whom Greece chose for her general; 
and when thy sister Helen had done such deeds, it was 
in thy power to obtain great renown; for evil deeds 
furnish an example and contemplation to the good. 
But if, as thou sayest, my father slew thy daughter, how 
have I and my brother injured thee? Why then didst 
thou not, having slain thy husband, unite to us ances- 
tral houses? but thou carried off stranger nuptials, pur- 
chasing a husband for hire. And neither is thy hus- 
band (Xgisthus) banished on account of thy son 
(Orestes), nor is he dead on my account, twice having 
slain ne on account of my sister (Iphigenia)? But if 
slaughter shall requite slaughter, I and thy son Orestes 
must slay thee, avenging our father. Forifthose deeds 
were just, these are just likewise. But whosoever, look- 
ing to wealth or nobility, marriesa wicked woman, isa 
fool; for an humble, yet modest partner is better in - 
one’s house, than a powerful one. 

Cuor. There is a fatality in the nuptials of women; 
for I perceive that among mortals some marriages fall 
out well, some not well. 

Ciy. O daughter, thou wert born to love ever thy sire. 
And this is the case; some side with the males; but 
others love their mother rather than their father. I 
will pardon thee for in truth, my child, I do not so ve 
much rejoicein what Ihave done. But thus unwashed, 
and with thy form thus badly clothed, hast thou just 
ceased from thy throes in childbirth? Alas! wretched 
me for my devices; how have I stirred my husband to 
wrath more than was fitting! 

ELEc. Thou mournest late, when thou hast no remedy. 
My father is dead; but why dost thou not recall thy 
son who is wandering out of this land? 

Cry. I have a fear, and consider my own interests, 
not his. For he is angered, as they say, at the death of 
his father. 

ELec. Why then dost thou keep thy husband furious 
against us? 

Y fal 


78 ELECTRA. [1116-1140, 


CiLy. Such are his manners; and thou also art self- 
willed. 

ELEC. ForI am pained; but I will cease being wroth. 

Cuiy. And truly he shall no longer be harsh to thee. 

ELEC. He is very proud, for he dwells in my house. 

Ciy. Dost thou see? Thou art again fanning new 
quarrels. 

Exec. I will be silent, for I fear him, as I fear him. 

CLy. Cease from these words. But wherefore didst 
thou call me, child? 

Etec. Thou hast heard, Isuppose, of my being brought 
to bed. On this account do thou offer sacrifice for me, 
(for I know not how,) on the tenth day of the month 
from the child’s birth, as is the custom. For Iam not 
experienced, being hitherto childless. 

Ciy. This is the task of another, who has acted as 
midwife. 

E.Ec. I myself was my midwife, and alone brought 
forth an infant. 

City. Dost thou inhabit a home so neighborless of 
friends ? 

ELEc. No one desires to possess the poor as friends. 

City. But I will go, that I may sacrifice for the ac- 
complished number of the child’s [days]; but after I 
have done this favor for thee, I will goto the field where 
my husband is offering sacrifices to the Nymphs. But, 
ye, attendants, leading these harnessed steeds, place 
them in the stalls; but when ye think that I am re- 
leased from this sacrifice to the Gods, be at hand ; for it 
behooves me also to do favor to my husband. 

ELezc. Enter into our poor abode; but take care lest 
the smoky roof discolor thy robes, for thou shalt make 
such a sacrifice to the Gods as behooves thee. (Clytem- 


% Alluding to his death. Woodhull: 

‘For I dread him, as far as there is cause 
To dread A#gisthus.” 

65 Cf. Aristoph. Av. 494, és dexarny yap mote matdapiov KAnbeis vrérivov 
év aotet, where the Scholiast remarks that the merce mgs festival 
and the naming of the child was celebrated on the tenth, by others, 
on the seventh day after birth. Amongthe Romans the lustration- 
day was the eighth for girls, the ninth for boys. Lomerr de 
Lustrat. § 27. 


1141-1184.] ELECTRA. 79 


nestra goes in.) For the canister is ready, and the knife. 
whetted, which has already destroyed the bull, near 
whom thou stricken shalt fall. And even in the house 
of Hades thou shalt be united to him with whom thou 
didst sleep during life. So great a favor will I bestow 
on thee; and thou on me an atonement for my father. - 

Cuor. A requital for evils, changed gales for the house 
are blowing. Then indeed in the bath my lord, my lord 
fell, and the house shrieked, and the stone-pinnacles of 
the house, as he spake thus : ‘‘ O wretched woman, why 
dost thou slay me returning to my dear country after 
ten corn-seasons?” Buta changing tide of justice se- 
cretly leads on this woman, wretched on account of her 
changed bed ; who having taken an axe in her hands, 
slew with the sharp-whetted blade by her own hand her 
wretched husband, returning after a long season to 
his house and the Cyclopeian sky-capping walls. A 
wretched husband, in that he had a wretched woman 
for a bane! Like as a mountain lioness, pasturing 
amidst the oak-thickets of the woods, she wrought these 
deeds. 

Ciy. O children, by the Gods, slay not your mother. 

Cuor. Dost thou hear the noise beneath the roof ? 

Cry. Alas! for me, for me! 

Cuor. I also bewail her murdered by her children. 
In truth the deity regulates justice, when there is a 
chance. Wretchedly hast thou suffered ; but impious 
deeds hast thou done to thy husband, unhappy one. 
But hither these direct their foot from the house, defiled 
with the new-shed blood of their mother, terrible evi- 
dences of her hapless addresses [to them]. There is 
not, nor ever was a house more wretched than that of 
the descendants of Tantalus. : 

Or. Oearthand Jove, that surveyest all mortal things, 
behold these bloody, horrid deeds, two bodies prostrate 
on the ground, by a blow from my hand, a requital of 
mine ills. 

ELeEc. Mournful matters indeed, O brother, but I am 
the cause. Through fire I have wretched gone against 
this my mother, who gave me, her daughter, birth. 
Alas ! for thy fortune, thy fortune, O mother that didst 


80 ELECTRA. [1185-1232. 


give me birth; thou that hast suffered accursed things, 
wretched and more than [wretched], at the hands of 
thy children. But justly hast thou atoned for my 
father’s murder. 

Or. Alas! Phoebus, thou didst enjoin justice; thou 
hast wrought publicly griefs not to be told, and hast 
given bloody nuptials from Greece. But to what other 
city can I go? What host, what pious friend will look 
upon the face of me a matricide ? 

ELec. Alas! alas for me! And whither shall I? to 
what dance, to what nuptials, shall Igo? What hus- 
band will receive me to a bridal bed ? 

Or. Again, again has thy disposition changed [with 
the gale}; ® for thou now hast pious thoughts, not hav- 
ing them then ; but thou, O dear one, hast done dread- 
ful things toward thy unwilling brother. Didst thou 
see how the wretched woman threw aside her robes, 
and showed her bosom during the slaughter, alas! for 
me, bending her knees to the earth? But I was like to 
faint.” 

ELEc. I well know thou wast in grief, hearing the 
piteous groan of the mother who bore thee. 

Or. And she uttered such a cry as this, placing her 
hand on my beard, ‘‘ My child, I beseech thee ;” and 
she hung upon my cheeks, so that the sword fell from 
my hands. 

Cuor. Oh! wretched one, how hast thou had the heart 
to behold in thy sight the slaughter of thy mother 
breathing her last ? hs 

Or. I indeed casting my robes upon mine eyes, began 
[the slaughter] with my sword, driving it into my 
mother’s neck. 

ELEC. And I indeed encouraged thee; and at the 
same time laid hands on the sword. You have done ® 
the most dreadful of deeds. 

Or. Take hold, take hold, cover the limbs of my 
mother with garments, close up her wounds. Murderers 
in truth didst thou give birth to for thyself. 


66 Dindorf would omit mpos avpav. 
87 raxéuav for Trav kéuav. SEIDL. DIND. 
68 But Seidler reads €pega. 


1233-1272.] ELECTRA. . 81 


EEc. See, thee a friend, yet not a friend, we cover 
with garments, a finish of the great ills in the house. 

CHOoR. But hither above the summit of the house ap- 
pear some demons, or of the heavenly Gods ; for this Is 
no path for mortals. Why come they into the clear 
sight of mortals? 

CASTOR AND POLLUX. (appearing) O son of Aga- 
memnon, listen ; for the twin brothers of thy mother, 
the sons of Jove, call upon thee, Castor, and this his 
brother Pollux. But having lately appeased a terrible 
storm of the ocean, we have come to Argos, when we 
saw the slaughter of this our sister, thy mother. She 
then has what was just, but thou dost not so; and 
Phoebus, Phoebus—but I will be silent, for he is my 
king—but being wise, he prophesied to thee things not 
wise. But we must needs acquiesce in this. But 
henceforth it behooves thee to perform what Fate and 
Jove have decreed concerning thee. On Pylades, in- 
deed, bestow Electra as a wife for his house; but do 
thou leave Argos, for it is not for thee to tread this 
land, having slain thy mother. But the dreadful 
Furies, the dog-visaged Goddesses, will drive thee 
maddened to roam astray. And when thou shalt 
arrive at Athens, embrace the hallowed image of 
Minerva; for she will drive them off, terrified by her 
terrible dragons, so as not to touch thee, stretching 
forth the Gorgon-faced circle over thine head. Now 
there is a certain hill of Mars, where the Gods first sate 
in vote concerning blood, when savage Mars, in wrath 
for the impious nuptials of his daughter,® slew Halir- 
rothius, the son of the ruler of the ocean, where from 
that [time] there is a most pious and firm judgment for 
the Gods. Here it behooves thee also to run the 
gauntlet concerning murder. But votes being placed 
equal will preserve thee from dying by justice; for 
Loxias will take the blame upon himself, having com- 
manded the murder of your mother. And to those 
hereafter this law shall be fixed, that the defendant 
shall always escape by equal votes. The fearful 

Se the daughter of Mars, was violated by Halirrothius. 
Cf. -e lod. iii. 13. See Meurs. Areop. § 10, p. 85.sq. 


82 ELECTRA. [1273-1311- 


Goddesses indeed, stricken with this vexation, will sink 
into a chasm of the earth near the hill itself, a sacred 
pious oracle Fariaemier for mortals. But thee it be- 
hoves to dwell ina city” on the streams of Alpheus, 
near the Lyczean inclosure; and the city shall be 
called after thy name. To thee indeed I have thus 
spoken; but this corse of Aigisthus the citizens of 
Argos shall conceal in a tomb of earth. But Menelaus, 
who has just arrived at Nauplia, since he has conquered 
the Trojan land, and Helen, will bury thy mother. 
For [Helen] is come from the house of Proteus, having 
left Egypt; nor did she gotothe Phrygians. But Jove, 
in order that strife and slaughter of mortals might 
arise, sent an image of Helen to Troy. Let Pylades 
then, having this damsel as his wife, return to his home 
in the Achaian land, and bear him who is nominally 
thy brother-in-law ™ into the land of the Phocians, and 
give him weight of wealth. But do thou, passing with 
thy foot over the neck of the Isthmian land, go toward 
the prosperous house of Cecropia; for having fulfilled 
thy destined fate [resulting] from this murder, thou 
wilt be happy, being freed from these ills. 

Cuor. O sons of Jove, is it lawful for us to approach 
thy converse ? 

Cas. AND PoL. It is lawful, for those not polluted by 
these murders, 

Or. And may I share in speech, sons of Tyndarus ? 

Cas. AND PoL. Thou mayest. I will lay this deed of 
blood upon Phoebus. 

Cuor. How, being Gods and brothers of this woman 
who hath perished, did ye not avert the calamities from 
these houses? 

Cas. AND PoL. Destiny of necessity led on her fate, 
and the unwise words of the tongue of Phoebus. 

Exec. But what Apollo [compelled] me? What 
oracles pronounced that I should be the murderess of 
my mother? — 

Cas. AND Pot. Common was the deed, and common 

7 Cf. Orest. 1645 sqq. It was before called ‘Agavia, and formed a 


district of Arcadia, Pausan. viii. 4. Steph. Byz. s.v. 
71 Meaning the old peasant 


1312-1354.] ELECTRA. 83 


the fate; and one curse of your sires has harassed both. 

Or. O sister mine, seeing thee after a long time, I am 
inmediately deprived of thine endearments, and, left 
by thee, I leave thee. 

Cas. AND PoL. She has a husband and home. She 
has not suffered things to be pitied, save that she 
leaves her Argive city. 

Or. And what other greater cause is there for groan- 
ing, than to leave the boundaries of one’s country? But 
I shall go out from my father’s house, and undergo the 
charge of murder of my mother at the votes of others. 

Cas. AND Po. Be of good cheer. Thou wilt come to 
the holy city of Pallas. But bear up. 

ELEC. Join thy breast to my breast, O dearest 
brother ; for the bloody curses of our mother disjoin 
us from our ancestral home. ; 

Or. Throw thy body closely, hug me; and weep, as 
on the tomb of me dead. 

Cas. AND Pou. Alas! alas! thou hast uttered this a 
terrible thing even for Gods to hear. For in me and in 
the inhabitants of heaven there is pity for much-toiling 
mortals. 

Or. No more shall I behold thee. 

ELec. Nor shall Iapproach thine eye. 

Or. This is my last address to thee. 

ELEc. O fare thee well, city, and fare ye well, and 
greatly well, my female citizens. 

Or. O most faithful sister, art thou now on thy way ? 

Exec. Iam on my way, bedewing my tender cheek. 

Or. Pylades, go rejoicing, wed the form of Electra. 

Cas. AND PoL. The marriage shall be their care ; but 
do thou, fleeing from these dogs,” wend thy way to 
Athens, for with their snaky hands, these black-skinned 
[Furies], fraught with the fruit of dreadful woes, cast 
their dread footstep upon thee. But we [hie] to the 
Sicilian Sea in haste, to save the marine prows of ships. 
And passing through the ethereal plain, the wicked 
indeed we aid not ; but to whom holiness and justice is 


7% The Furies appear. 


84 ELECTRA. [1355-1359. 


dear in their life, these we preserve, releasing them 
from heavy toils. Thus let no one be willing to act un- 
justly, not let him sail together with the perjured. I, 
a God, proclaim this to mortals, 

CHor. Farewell; but whosoever of mortals is able to 
fare well, and bends not under some misfortune, fares 


happily. 


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